The Ascension Trilogy, Book One:The Coming Ice Age
by Bill K
Summary: In 2013, Sailor Moon faces the possible end of civilization
1. Flight Of Freedom

The Ascension Trilogy  
Book One: THE COMING ICE AGE  
Chapter 1: "Flight of Freedom"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic  
  
By Bill K.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2002 by Naoko Takeuchi/  
Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with   
respect. Story is (c)2002 by Bill Kropfhauser.  
  
As always, for those only familiar with the English dub:  
  
Usagi=Serena  
Ami=Amy  
Rei=Raye  
Makoto=Lita  
Minako=Mina  
Haruka=Amara  
Michiru=Michelle  
Setsuna=Trista  
Mamoru=Darien  
Chibi-Usa=Rini  
  
Finally, Haruka and Michiru are NOT cousins.  
--------------------------------------------------  
July 23, 2013.  
  
It began with a simple act of human kindness.  
* * * *  
In the doctor's office she shared with Mamoru Chiba, the still   
newly christened Dr. Ami Fujihara, formerly Ami Mizuno, escorted her   
latest patient out of the exam room.  
  
"Now it's very important to take all of this medicine," Ami said,   
handing the older woman a prescription, "but it's just as important to   
rest. The medicine alone won't fix your feet. It will only allow you   
to rest more comfortably. The rest is the key. Please stay off of them   
as much as possible. All right?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor," the woman said, bowing to Ami.  
  
"And be sure to prop them up like I showed you. If it doesn't   
clear up, you let me know. Now please take care." She watched the   
woman amble gingerly out the door, them slumped and turned to Naomi, her   
receptionist. "Is anyone else waiting? I'm done in."  
  
"Just one," the pretty young woman of twenty smiled. "But I don't   
think he's sick." She pointed and Ami looked.  
  
"Hi, Ami," the smallish, ordinary man of thirty-six with the thick  
black frames smiled quietly. Ami's face lit up.  
  
"Hayami," she said, crossing over to him. Folding her arms around   
him, she put her lips to his and they kissed like they'd only been   
married for eight months - - which they had.  
  
"Hard day?" he asked sympathetically.  
  
"Long more than hard," Ami smiled. "Hard day at the library?"  
  
"No," he said, slightly embarrassed. "The summers are our quiet   
period."  
  
"Fraternizing with the patients? What would your husband say?"   
Mamoru chuckled, entering the reception area. Ami and Hayami both   
blushed.   
  
At that moment the outer door opened. They turned, hoping it   
wasn't another patient, and saw Usagi enter. Immediately upon seeing   
Mamoru, she closed her eyes, her hand flying to her forehead.  
  
"Oh!" She gasped dramatically. "Hard . . . to breathe! Need help   
. . . need . . . handsome doctor . . .!" She staggered across the room   
and swooned into Mamoru's arms. "Help . . . me. . ." she squeaked.  
  
"Can't breathe, huh?" Mamoru asked. Usagi nodded. "Do you think   
you need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?" Usagi nodded vigorously as she   
dangled limply in Mamoru's arms. "I don't know. That's how germs get   
passed." Usagi kicked him in the shins. "Well, anything for a   
patient." Mamoru bent down and kissed his wife on the mouth. Usagi   
arched up to him, sighing into his mouth.  
  
"You know, Usagi, you are thirty-four years old," clucked Ami   
disapprovingly. Usagi pulled her mouth away from Mamoru's.  
  
"Mind your own business, Doc," she said, then resumed kissing   
Mamoru.  
  
"Come on," Ami waved to the receptionist and the two medical   
technicians peering through the door at them. "Let's get the computer   
files done so we can leave. If they're still at it when we get back,   
we'll hose them down."  
  
"I hope we're that passionate when we've been married fifteen   
years," Hayami remarked.  
  
"Dear, we aren't THAT passionate now," Ami murmured to him,   
flushing slightly.  
  
Suddenly Mamoru jerked Usagi up to her feet. While she collected   
her senses, he turned to Ami.  
  
"I've already done the files," he told her. "We can all lock up   
and go home."  
  
"Great!" squealed the receptionist. She grabbed her purse and   
scurried for the door, the medical techs hot on her heels. "See you   
Monday!"  
  
"Ami, do you and Hayami have plans?" Usagi asked suddenly.  
  
"Not really," Ami said, cautiously looking to her husband for   
confirmation. "We were just going to spend a quiet evening at home.   
Why?"  
  
"I just got my latest royalty check," beamed Usagi. "I want to   
take everybody out to dinner, on me!"  
  
"The Butterfly Palace again?" Hayami queried. "Makoto's going to   
throw us out if we're there too often."  
  
"No she wouldn't," grinned Usagi. "She knows I'm her best   
customer. But I was thinking more along the lines of The Green Room."  
  
"Usagi, that's a very expensive place!" gasped Ami. "Are you sure   
you can afford it?"  
  
"Obviously you didn't see my royalty check," smirked Usagi.   
"'Fire Princess Rika' is selling off the stands. Besides, one of my   
favorite entertainers is going to be there tonight, ironically enough,   
and I just had to see her." Ami and Hayami looked at her in confusion,   
but Mamoru, knowing his wife as he did, caught on quickly.  
  
"Rei?" he asked. Usagi nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Rei's singing there tonight?" Ami gasped. "Well, I guess I can't   
very well miss that, can I? Hayami?"  
  
"Sure," he shrugged. "I'm easy."  
  
"Great! We just have time to get changed!" squealed Usagi.  
  
"Is this formal?" Hayami asked uneasily. "I'm not sure . . ."  
  
"A suit will be fine," Mamoru reassured him.  
  
"Too bad," Usagi said, caressing her husband's cheek. "I've   
always thought you look great in a tuxedo."  
* * * *  
The violets of dusk colored the sky. Night began to creep over   
the city. It had been a hot day, but not particularly humid. Still,   
Setsuna was happy to relax in her lawn chair. She wore an   
uncharacteristically small pair of white twill shorts and a floral   
blouse with the sleeves rolled up, tied at the midriff. She crossed her   
long legs, brought a glass of iced fruit juice to her lips, and watched   
the colors of the garden change in the dimming light.  
  
It was coming up on fifteen years since she'd moved out of the   
house she'd shared with Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru and purchased the   
small house she now lived in - - alone. Michiru had insisted then that   
it was all right for her to stay, that she and Haruka weren't even there   
half the time. But Setsuna remained firm. Since Hotaru left, living in   
that house seemed wrong to her. She felt she was imposing on the   
intimacy Haruka and Michiru craved. And, she confessed, she missed   
Hotaru. She had a weakness for children. Without Hotaru being there,   
she felt she was better off alone.  
  
Setsuna didn't mind. She was comfortable with being alone. She   
had her work at the university to give her human contact. Now she had   
the quiet of the garden to give her tranquillity. Her head eased back   
on the lawn chair. She didn't miss people. They were never an   
intrusion, but she never saw them as a necessity, the way others did.   
She was fine by herself, even liked being by herself. Ninety-nine   
percent of the time, she preferred being by herself. The other one   
percent - - well, there were artificial remedies for that.  
  
Unbidden, her mind thought of Usagi. Usagi would never approve of   
such ideas. Usagi felt there was never a good time to be alone and that   
a mate existed for everyone. Furthermore, anyone who didn't search for   
that mate was being irresponsible.  
  
But Setsuna had resigned herself to being alone. She knew as a   
senshi that hers was a higher mission in life. She knew that might   
necessitate giving up certain things. She sensed it was her destiny to   
be alone. If that was so, she accepted that without malice. She might   
even prefer it.  
  
Still, every so often, it would be nice . . .  
  
A noise brought her quickly out of her reverie. Something   
plummeted through the trees and fell into a flower bed at the end of the   
garden. Setsuna peered into the brush from her chair, one hand   
summoning her henshin stick while the other set her juice down in the   
grass. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
Rising up from the chair, she cautiously padded toward the flower   
bed. As she got closer, Setsuna began to question her senses. It was a   
man - - she thought. It looked like a man, but were those wings beneath   
him?   
  
She knelt down next to him.  
  
"Did he fall from something?" Setsuna mused quietly to herself.   
She examined the sky above. "I heard no plane." Her long fingers   
glided over the wings that cushioned him. The silky feathers felt good   
against her skin. "He seems human, save for these."  
  
Her thoughts ended when she noticed his eyes open. The lids rose   
slowly, revealing liquid pale blue eyes trying to focus. His head   
turned slowly to her and he looked up through strands of his silver   
hair. Focusing on Setsuna, his demeanor grew urgent and he struggled to   
rise.  
  
"Do not move suddenly," she cautioned, gently pressing a hand to   
his bare chest. It felt good against her palm. "You are injured."  
  
"Please," he whispered, an articulate tone coated in a velvety   
tenor voice. "I will not . . . surrender . . . to them." He grimaced   
in some discomfort.  
  
"I do not wish to hurt you," Setsuna reassured him. She looked   
over his impeccably muscled body and noted only scratches. "Can you   
rise?"  
  
The strange being thought a moment, then did so with some   
difficulty. With Setsuna's aid, he gained his unsteady feet.  
  
"Come," Setsuna said. "There is a bed inside. You can lay down   
and recover from your ordeal and any injuries you have sustained."  
  
Setsuna began to lead the limping man to the house. When he   
realized where they were headed, he stopped and shied.  
  
"Please relax," she said to him gently. "I do not seek to harm   
you." Then she did something she rarely did - - she smiled. The   
gesture seemed to reassure him. He smiled timidly back at her and they   
went inside the house.  
* * * *  
The restaurant was intimate. It had a self-conscious elegance,   
but not an elegance that crossed the line into arrogance. Nicely   
dressed couples dined in an atmosphere rich with upscale pleasure. It   
was a chance for middle class people to be upper class, if for one   
night.  
  
Usagi sat between her husband and the husband of her friend Ami.   
She was dressed in a flattering light blue dress with short sleeves, a   
high collar and a moderate hem. Her signature ribbons of yellow hair   
were wrapped and pinned atop her head. Ami wore a very quiet violet   
dress and matching heels, while the men wore suits.  
  
"Honestly, one of these days I'm going to cut this off," groused   
Usagi, checking her precarious coiffure with her hand for the sixth   
time.  
  
"No you're not," rumbled Mamoru with an amorous undertone. Usagi   
smiled flirtatiously at him.  
  
"This food is very good," Ami commented. "It has a wonderful   
flavor. I wonder what the chef puts into it." She took another bite of   
her chicken.  
  
"It's good," Usagi nodded. "But Makoto could do better."  
  
"Is there anything you don't think Makoto could cook better?" Ami   
asked.  
  
"No," Usagi said, completely missing the gentle mocking tone of   
Ami's voice. The others glanced, amused, at each other.  
  
A gaunt man stepped onto the small stage at the back of the   
restaurant. The spotlight reflecting off of his glasses, he moved to a   
microphone and glanced at the crowd.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, The Green Room presents for your dining and   
listening pleasure, the musical stylings of Miss Rei Hino."  
  
Both Mamoru and Hayami grimaced as Usagi clamped excitedly onto   
their forearms. The curtain pulled back and a vision walked out.  
  
Long thick black hair cascaded down her back. Long white opera   
gloves adorned her arms. A tight, sequined red gown decorated a robust,   
womanly figure. The dress was cut low at the bodice, held up by   
spaghetti straps that almost seemed inadequate for the job. Its hem   
leisurely grazed the floor, with red leather pumps peeking out from   
beneath.  
  
Her gloved hands cupped the microphone like she was caressing a   
lover. A full red mouth leaned in close and a low, velvety voice came   
forth. As a four-piece jazz combo began playing in the background, Rei   
began crooning sixty-year-old American torch songs like she was trying   
to seduce a man. She sang from the heart, her mature, powerful singing   
voice traveling out across the room and caressing each individual patron   
in the room like she was singing only to them.  
  
"She's good," whispered Hayami, in awe. "You know her, dear?"  
  
"You've met Rei," Ami smiled. "My friend, Rei? The priest that   
married us?"  
  
"That's a priest?" goggled Hayami.  
  
"It's not a side she usually shows," Mamoru said, his eyes glued   
to the stage.  
  
After a half-hour set, Rei retired to a back dressing room. She   
sat down at a small vanity and dabbed perspiration from her face with a   
towel. She caught her expression in the mirror and was momentarily   
embarrassed by the giddy satisfaction she saw in it. Then she shifted   
to a wry grin and gave her reflection a thumb's up.  
  
"Who is it?" Rei asked in response to a knock on the door.  
  
"Your biggest fan!" came the response.  
  
"Usagi! Come in!"  
  
Usagi came in, scampering across the small room and hugged Rei.   
Rei returned the hug, smiling warmly as she spotted the other guests.  
  
"Oh, Rei, you were great out there!" Usagi squealed.  
  
"You did a wonderful job," echoed Mamoru.   
  
"I was very moved by it," smiled Ami. Hayami nodded in agreement.   
He seemed a bit awed being in Rei's presence, particularly dressed like   
she was.  
  
"Thanks, everybody," grinned Rei. She noticed Hayami staring and   
her smile gained a cynical tilt. "Nice to see you too, Hayami."  
  
"Oh!" he said, shaking himself. His cheeks colored   
self-consciously. "I, uh, you were very good. I never knew. You   
should do this all the time - - even make CD's!"  
  
"Tell the record companies," Rei said ruefully. "I'm not exactly   
what they're looking for."  
  
"Why not?" Usagi asked, incensed. "You've got talent."  
  
"You need more than just talent. You need something they can   
sell. Just look at Minako."  
  
"But you sing every bit as well as Minako," Ami protested.  
  
"I sing better than Minako," Rei proclaimed proudly. "But she's   
got something I'll never have - - charisma. I put everything I have   
into my songs when I'm on stage, but I'm stuck singing part-time in   
supper clubs. All Minako has to do is flip her blonde hair and flash   
that smile of hers and she's got an audience eating out of her hand.   
She doesn't even have to sing a note."  
  
No one argued. No one could.  
  
"Boy, does that sound bitter," Rei grinned sheepishly. "But it's   
what the masses want. Besides, she looks American. That's another   
advantage I don't have. I'm just one more Japanese girl who can carry a   
tune, and we're a dime a dozen. Minako's been an idol for, what, five   
years now? Ever since her song from that goofy TV show she did hit the   
charts?"  
  
"Yeah, 'Island Princess'," nodded Hayami.  
  
"Well, it's because she stands out," Rei said ruefully, "and I   
guess I don't." She glanced at Hayami staring at her again. "Well, not   
enough, anyway."  
  
"Rei, don't feel bad," pleaded Usagi.  
  
"I don't," Rei said, giving her a small smile. "I've got a   
career, remember? Giving people spiritual guidance is way more   
important than selling CD's and appearing on 'Celebrity Beat'. I can   
live without all the fame - - though I wouldn't mind having some. I'm   
just grateful I can come here two or three times a month, express my   
creative side and massage my ego a little. After all, even us priests   
need hobbies, too."  
  
"Well I'm glad to hear that," Usagi said hopefully. "I kind of   
have some news I wanted to spring on you. I've been negotiating with an   
animation company about doing an anime version of 'Fire Princess Rika'.   
Well, we signed the contract today."  
  
"Usagi, that's great!" Rei gasped. The others murmured agreement.  
  
"That's not the news! Rei, I want you to do Rika's voice."  
  
"M-Me?!"  
  
"Well why not?  
  
"I've never done voice-overs! How do you know if I'll be any   
good?"  
  
"Well why wouldn't you be? I based Rika on you when I created   
her! All you'd have to do is be yourself!"  
  
"Usagi, they're not going to give this role to an amateur!"  
  
"Oh yes they will," Usagi said confidently. "I have creative veto   
on scripts and vocal characterizations and I intend to be very stubborn   
on this." She clasped Rei's hand. "Don't be afraid, Rei. You told me   
once you wanted to be a voice actress in anime. This is your chance to   
get a foot in the door."  
  
"I told you that almost twenty years ago!" gasped Rei. "How can   
you possibly remember something that far back? You can't even remember   
your PIN numbers for your ATM card!"   
  
"Well excuse me for caring!" huffed Usagi. "I just thought you'd   
be good for the role and you'd like doing it!"  
  
"Well," scowled Rei. "You thought right!" It took a few moments   
for Usagi to realize what Rei had said. In that time, the fiery   
priestess softened her expression. "I think it'd be a gas. Thank you.   
I hope I don't disappoint you."  
  
Usagi began to mist up, grinning gratefully.  
  
"But this doesn't change the fact that you're still a ditz, even   
after all these years!" barked Rei.  
  
Usagi sputtered for a few moments, then shot her tongue at Rei.  
  
"Do they do this a lot?" Hayami asked.  
  
"As long as I've known them," Ami smiled. "The only way to tell   
if they're really mad at each other is if they DON'T fight."  
  
"And I take it all back!" Usagi grumped. "Minako's a much better   
singer than you are!"  
  
"Which just proves your ear is as tinny as your brain is!" Rei   
shot back, a twinkle in her eyes.  
* * * *  
Setsuna eased quietly into the doorway to her bedroom. She looked   
down at the winged man lying there in the first shadows of night. He   
had lapsed back into a fitful unconsciousness. His body was bathed in   
perspiration as he fidgeted and grimaced in the darkness.  
  
His exquisite body.  
  
The future mistress of the Door Of Time shook herself. There was   
a time and a place for everything and lusting over a very beautiful man   
was definitely not something for this time or this place. She silently   
crossed over to him and placed her hand on his forehead. For a moment   
she recalled involuntarily how smooth and exciting his skin was before   
pushing the thought from her mind.  
  
And suddenly the room was gone. In its place were the broken   
remnants of her home. Setsuna looked around. Everything for as far as   
she could see was draped in thick ice. Trees, grass, birds, even   
people, for as far as she could see; there was no life to be witnessed.   
  
The tall woman snatched her hand away from her guest and the   
vision faded like a bad dream. She looked down at him, her eyes wide   
and wondrous, her mouth small and frightened. For years now Setsuna had   
been having more and more visions of the past, the future, alternate   
futures and present events in other places. They had been   
disconcerting, but she'd grown used to them. But she'd never seen   
anything like this. And why when she touched her mysterious guest? Was   
he involved?  
  
Setsuna put her hand up to her throat. Would the senshi be needed   
again? And this time, would they be enough?  
  
Continued in part 2 


	2. The Ties Of Friendship

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 2: "The Ties of Friendship"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
A small, fuel-efficient car pulled into a driveway and into the   
small garage. Shrouded by the evening, two figures emerged from the   
garage, walked to the front door of the small, unobtrusive home and   
paused long enough to open it.  
  
"It was a nice night, wasn't it?" Ami asked.  
  
"I thought so," Hayami nodded. The plain, squat man turned to his   
wife, the light catching his glasses so that momentarily he had no eyes.   
"The Green Room earns its reputation."  
  
"Yes," smiled Ami. Then she playfully eyed her husband. "You   
seemed particularly impressed with Rei."   
  
"Well," Hayami began, flushing uncomfortably, "she's very   
impressive - - singing, I mean!" Ami twittered with amusement. "Are   
all of your friends so remarkable? You know a famous TV singing idol, a   
successful manga artist and now a singing priest."  
  
"Don't forget the greatest chef in Japan," Ami laughed. She   
noticed the answering machine blinking and moved to press the button.  
  
"Ami?" the machine repeated and Ami instantly recognized Setsuna's   
voice. "Could you come to my home as soon as possible? I have someone   
in need of an expert's opinion and - - circumstances prevent me from   
going elsewhere. I apologize for imposing upon our friendship." There   
was a pause. "Um, this is Setsuna. Perhaps I should have said so   
earlier. Um, good-bye."  
  
Ami frowned. Clearly Setsuna was distracted by something. That   
prospect alone piqued her curiosity - - and there was someone in need.   
She turned to her husband.  
  
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I really should see to this.   
Setsuna's a friend and . . ."  
  
"And you're a dedicated doctor," Hayami smiled. "I understand.   
Be careful please."  
  
"I will," she said, kissing him. It was a kiss that was still   
slightly shy even after eight months of marriage. "But I think Sailor   
Mercury can handle any trouble that might arise." Hayami looked down,   
chastened. She patted his cheek maternally. "I do appreciate that you   
worry."  
  
Five minutes later her car pulled into Setsuna's street. Looking   
over the tranquil setting, Ami walked, doctor's bag in hand, from her   
parked car to Setsuna's door and rang the bell. The relief in Setsuna's   
face upon seeing Ami surprised the young doctor.  
  
"I apologize for calling you," Setsuna said, "but it was   
necessary. Your patient is in here."  
  
Ami followed Setsuna into the bedroom. Now Ami had, over the   
years, seen many strange things. But the last thing she was expecting   
to see was a very handsome, nearly naked man with five foot white wings   
lying in Setsuna's bed. Setsuna noticed her amazement.  
  
"I will explain when you are finished," she said. That prodded   
Ami to work.  
  
"Are you in pain?" Ami asked the man, sitting next to the bed.   
She moved to take his pulse, but the man pulled away.  
  
"You may trust her," Setsuna said gently, almost maternally. "She   
is a friend."  
  
The winged man warily surrendered his wrist to her. Ami checked   
the man's pulse.  
  
"Do you have a name?" she asked disarmingly.  
  
"I have been referred to," he replied suspiciously, "as Janus."  
  
"Well, Janus, are you in pain? I'm here to help if you'll let   
me."  
  
He stared cautiously at her, then placed his hand on his right   
shoulder.  
  
"Can you move it?" Ami asked.  
  
"It hurts, but I can move it," Janus said.  
  
"Is it a sharp pain?" He nodded. "I'm going to touch it. It may   
hurt; if it does, please tell me."  
  
Ami gently felt along the shoulder and the shoulder blade. She   
wanted to touch the wings growing out of his back near the shoulder   
blades, but resisted the urge.  
  
"It hurts there," grunted Janus. Ami nodded.  
  
"What is it?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"Probably a sprain," Ami said. "I don't feel any breaks. I'd   
like to confirm that with an x-ray," and she glanced at Janus, "but I   
suppose that's out of the question."  
  
"It hurts here as well," Janus said, his trust growing. He put   
his hand on his right hip. Ami swallowed.  
  
"Um, I'm," she grimaced, "is it all right if I examine the area?   
I'll have to take the, um, cloth down."  
  
Unconcerned about exposing himself, Janus nodded; in fact, Ami and   
Setsuna seemed more concerned with seeing more of him than he was. Ami   
eased the loincloth down. There was an ugly bruise on his hip and her   
professional judgment took over. Ami probed gently, amid pained hisses   
from Janus, and found more.  
  
"The thigh is dislocated from the hip socket," Ami pronounced.   
She put her hands solidly on the hip and the man's thigh, noticing for   
just a moment how smooth and muscular it was. "This is going to hurt.   
Be ready."  
  
Setsuna put her hands on his shoulders to steady him. Ami shoved   
the thigh with all her strength, eliciting a howl from her patient.  
  
"That will be sore for a while, but it will improve. Now lay   
back. You need to rest." Ami was about to get up, but spotted puncture   
marks on the side of the calf. "How did you get these wounds?"  
  
"I was attacked," Janus admitted reluctantly.  
  
Ami examined the wounds more closely. Frowning, she fished into   
her bag and brought out a scalpel. Janus tensed upon seeing the blade.  
  
"There's something in the wound," Ami advised him. "I'm going to   
remove it. I'm sorry, but I don't have any anesthetic. This will hurt   
some, but it's necessary."  
  
Carefully Ami made a small incision to open the wound, then used   
the blade to dig out two small objects. Cupping them in one hand, she   
put down the scalpel and fished some antiseptic from her bag. After   
spreading it over the wound, she placed a gauze pad on it and, with   
Setsuna's help, taped it to the calf.  
  
"What are they?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"I've never seen them this big, but these are - - teeth! Fangs   
- - from a giant snake!" She turned to Janus. "Where did this creature   
attack you?"  
  
"At the portal," Janus said cryptically. "I broke the Szistash's   
neck before it could constrict me." Ami and Setsuna only stared at him.  
  
"Does this - - Szistash - - possess venom?" Janus shook his head   
tiredly. "Well you've certainly had a rough night. Setsuna, I'll bring   
some prescription medicines for him in the morning. Until then, do you   
have any analgesic tablets on hand?" Setsuna nodded and headed for her   
bathroom. Ami patted Janus's shoulder. "You rest now. The worst of it   
is over."  
  
"Thank you," Janus said. His look was earnest, as if he was   
unfamiliar with kindness. Setsuna returned with some ibuprofen and Ami   
gave him two pills. As Janus settled back, the two women adjourned to   
the other room.  
  
"Setsuna, where did he come from?" Ami gasped.  
  
"He crashed into my garden earlier this evening," Setsuna replied.   
"He is - - quite reluctant to divulge details, but I have managed to   
surmise that he is not of this world."  
  
"I gathered that. And those wings?" Ami asked. "They don't look   
like grafts. Is he a genetic mutation?"  
  
"Is he even human?" Setsuna added. She looked at Ami, expecting   
an opinion.  
  
"He seems human - - except for the wings, of course. I'd have to   
do a more detailed physical to know for certain. Do you think he could   
be of supernatural origin? Or perhaps extra-terrestrial?"  
  
"I can say with certainty he is not from space. I do not have   
enough information to speculate on other origins. Perhaps if he comes   
to trust someone, we can learn more. Perhaps," and Setsuna hesitated,   
"I should ask the Princess to speak with him. She is much more skilled   
at gaining people's trust than I."  
  
"You've done a good job so far," Ami smiled. "You must not have   
noticed the way he looks at you."  
  
Setsuna glanced at Ami with genuine surprise, then, to Ami's   
amazement, looked away with coloring cheeks.  
  
"I will," Setsuna mumbled, flustered, "consult the Princess."  
  
"Perhaps we should bring in Rei, too," suggested Ami. Setsuna   
nodded and they returned to the bedroom.  
  
"Janus?" Ami said, bending gently to the man in bed. "I'll be   
back tomorrow to give you something more for your injuries. Setsuna   
will stay with you." She smiled encouragingly. "Please relax and get   
some sleep. I don't know what you've gone through, but you're safe   
now."  
  
Janus looked at her, trying to read her face. Finally he relaxed   
and said, "Thank you."  
* * * *  
It was midday as Rei walked through the grounds of Hikawa Shrine.   
She nodded cheerfully to the few worshippers there and noted with a   
critical eye the things that needed to be cleaned or fixed up. Coming   
up next to her as she walked was the shrine's fellow priest, Akira   
Fukuoka.   
  
"It's a lovely day so far," Akira said, nodding respectfully to   
her.  
  
"The kami of the skies have been very kind to us," Rei said back.   
  
Akira was slightly taller than she was, with a kind face and a   
gentle, understanding manner. He was thirty years old and had been at   
Hikawa for six years. After some initial skepticism, Akira had grown to   
respect Hikawa shrine and the eclectic mix of businessmen, families and   
teenage schoolchildren who made up the majority of Hikawa's "flock". A   
year in, he confessed to Rei that the thought of being anywhere else   
seemed pointless. He was amazed he'd found a perfect fit so soon into   
his career, but he wasn't going to question it.  
  
For Rei, he'd been a godsend. Akira was popular with the young   
girls and those who still couldn't warm up to a woman priest. He split   
duties with Rei and deferred to her on matters of running the shrine.   
Plus he was cute as a anything and a dream to be around.  
  
Pity he was married. Still, one couldn't have everything.  
  
"I understand you had a late night last night," Akira smiled,   
teasing her ever so slightly.   
  
"Yes, I got a very nice ovation at the club," Rei admitted, ever   
so slightly self-conscious. "And Usagi and Ami were there, which was   
nice, too. Usagi had some very good news for me."  
  
"Usagi-san's mission in life seems to be delivering good news to   
people," Akira noted. "It's a pity she didn't take up the priesthood   
herself."  
  
"She would never have managed to pass divinity school," Rei   
smirked. "She's more one to lead by example."  
  
"Auntie Rei! Auntie Rei!" came the high-pitched squeal of a   
ten-year-old.  
  
Rei and Akira looked and saw a familiar ten-year-old girl run up   
to them. She was a husky girl for her age, with long silky black hair   
and an impish face. Her beefy legs carried her up to them and Rei knelt   
to catch her.  
  
"Akiko-chan!" Rei cooed as the girl hugged her. "How've you been,   
honey?"  
  
"Fine," smiled the darling little girl. "I got an 'A' in   
history."  
  
"Very good," Rei smiled. "Aren't you the smart little girl."  
  
"And are you minding your manners?" Akira asked.  
  
"Yes, Fukuoka-sensei," Akiko nodded.  
  
"Are you still beating up your brother when he annoys you?" Akira   
asked playfully.  
  
Akiko looked down with chagrin.  
  
"Just like her mother," Rei beamed. "You only do it when he   
deserves it, right?"  
  
"Most of the time," Akiko shrugged.  
  
"Hi, Auntie Rei!" called a voice slightly lower. A round young   
boy of seven ran up and Rei extended an arm. He slid in to hug her and   
Akiko gave ground.  
  
"Hey, slugger," Rei beamed. "How you been?"  
  
"OK," the boy, named Ichiro, shrugged.   
  
"And how are you doing in school?"  
  
"I'm getting 'B's mostly. Second year elementary is tough!"  
  
"I remember," Rei said conspiratorially.  
  
"Can I play in the garden today?" Ichiro asked.  
  
"Mind your manners in front of Sensei, dope!" scowled Akiko and   
conked her brother on top of his head with her fist.  
  
"Akiko," Akira said with a light warning tone.  
  
"Sorry, Fukuoka-sensei," Akiko looked down with chagrin again.   
Ichiro shot his tongue at her.  
  
"I have to be getting back to my duties," Akira said. "I'll look   
in later on the garden." As he walked off, Akiko watched him.  
  
"Why does he have to be married, Auntie Rei?" Akiko sighed.  
  
"Sometimes that's the way life works, Akiko-chan," Rei smiled.  
  
"Oh my, it looks like my two favorite children in the whole world   
are here!" They all turned and saw Usagi standing up a ways on the   
path. Instantly the children tore from Rei and ran up to her.  
  
"Auntie Usagi! Auntie Usagi!" squealed Akiko.  
  
"What have you got for us, Auntie Usagi?" Ichiro asked eagerly.   
Both children were bouncing up and down before her.  
  
"Well, I'm sure I've got something in here," Usagi smiled coyly,   
fishing into her purse. In seconds she produced two fat lollipops and   
handed one to each child. The wrappers hadn't hit the ground yet before   
the candy was in their mouths.  
  
"Usagi, are you spoiling my children again?" Makoto sighed   
helplessly as she walked up.  
  
"Guilty as charged," Usagi smirked, looking up to the heavens. "I   
guess you'll have to throw the book at me."  
  
"Like it'd help," muttered Makoto.  
  
"Look at it this way," Rei chimed in. "It's two fewer pieces of   
candy SHE'S getting fat off of." Usagi shot her tongue at Rei and the   
kids laughed.  
  
"What do you two say?" Makoto said to her children, eyebrow   
arched.  
  
"Thank you, Auntie Usagi!" they said in unison. Usagi bent down   
and kissed each child on the forehead.  
  
"And thank you for taking them, Rei," Makoto said earnestly to   
Rei. "I hate to dump them on you on short notice, but there's a   
delivery at the restaurant today and I just have to be there."  
  
"And I've told you that Akiko and Ichiro are both welcome here   
anytime," Rei lectured.   
  
"I know, but I still feel like I'm taking advantage of you. If   
school were still in, it wouldn't be a problem. This would come right   
during summer break."  
  
"What are you getting?" Usagi asked eagerly. "Is it delicious?"  
  
"It's a new convection oven," Makoto told her with a cynical look.   
"I've never tried one, so I don't know how they taste." Usagi wrinkled   
her nose at Makoto. "Now we can cook twice as many dishes and we don't   
have to keep so many customers waiting."  
  
"So the restaurant's picking up?" Rei asked.  
  
"Word's getting around," Makoto shrugged.  
  
"Don't be so modest!" gasped Usagi. "I was there last week and   
the place was packed!"  
  
"There was probably something going on in the area," Makoto said   
modestly.  
  
"They probably smelled you cooking!" Usagi replied. Makoto looked   
at her, then glanced to Rei and helplessly shrugged.  
  
"There's some things you just can't fight her on," Rei smiled.   
"So what are you doing here, Usagi, other than corrupting her children?"  
  
"You need to be off Friday," Usagi told her. "The Vocal Director   
and the Animation Director want to meet with you." Rei looked instantly   
nervous. "They just want to listen to your voice. They'll give you a   
sample reading and tape it. Don't worry, Rei, you've got the part!   
Just do your best!"  
  
"Part? What are you talking about?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Usagi got me the voice part for the 'Fire Princess Rika' anime,"   
Rei said, still not quite believing it herself.  
  
"That's great!" gasped Makoto. "Wait a minute! They're making an   
anime of 'Fire Princess Rika'? Usagi, that's wonderful!"  
  
"THEY'RE GOING TO MAKE A 'FIRE PRINCESS RIKA' ANIME!" goggled   
Akiko. "GEAR!"  
  
"Eh. Girly stuff," sneered Ichiro.  
  
Makoto and Usagi exchanged amused glances. "He'll notice the   
short skirts when he's thirteen," chuckled Makoto. Just then Usagi's   
cell-phone rang.  
  
"Oh, maybe that's the anime company - - or my agent - - or my   
publisher - - or the studio . . ."  
  
"Just answer it!" fumed Rei.  
  
"Hello?" Usagi said. She listened for a moment. "Setsuna? It's   
been a while! How have you been?" Setsuna replied. "To your place?   
Sure, I guess I could. Immediately?" Usagi's expression became   
concerned. "It does? Oh, dear. Yeah, she's right here." Setsuna said   
something else. "I'll ask her. I'll be there in a little bit.   
Good-bye, Setsuna."  
  
"What's wrong?" Rei asked, having already divined trouble from   
Usagi's psychic vibrations.  
  
"Setsuna wants us to come over to her place," Usagi reported.   
"She wants us to meet this guy there and talk to him. She said it might   
turn out to be something the senshi need to be concerned about."  
  
"Should I go along, too?" Makoto asked, her concerns up and   
active.  
  
"Well, she didn't ask for you," Usagi replied as delicately as   
possible. "Why don't you go ahead and take your delivery. I'll fill   
you in later, along with Ami and Minako."  
  
"I'll get changed," Rei said and hurried off.  
  
"I wonder what's up," Makoto mused. Usagi sensed her worry and   
put her hand on the woman's forearm.  
  
"Don't worry," Usagi said with that disarming smile that was her   
greatest weapon. "We'll handle it just like always. I know you're   
worried about Sanjuro and the kids, but we've handled it before and   
we'll handle it again."  
  
Makoto nodded unconvincingly.  
* * * *  
"Oh," Minako groaned as she exited the bedroom in her hotel suite   
clad only in a robe and a towel around her hair. "What a grueling tour.   
I hope I've got enough left. Thank goodness we're headed back to Tokyo   
after tonight." She glanced over at Artemis. He was curled up on the   
sofa watching the news on television. "Were you even listening,   
furball?"  
  
"I try not to," Artemis replied. "It only makes my head hurt."  
  
The wet towel landed on top of the white cat. Peeved, he dug his   
way out and returned to watching.  
  
"Honestly, you're worse than Toshihiro sometimes," Minako muttered   
as she bounced down onto the sofa next to him. "Is insensitivity some   
sort of genetic trait in you men?" Artemis continued to concentrate on   
the newscast. "So what's so mesmerizing?"  
  
"The temperature's are suddenly ten degrees cooler over the entire   
island of Japan," Artemis told her while remaining absorbed in the   
story.  
  
"Well that's a good thing. It was starting out to be a hot   
summer. Tonight's an outdoor concert and I won't mind a cool night one   
bit."  
  
"It's not necessarily a good thing," Artemis replied. "There's no   
meteorological reason for it."  
  
"So what's meteors got to do with it?" Minako asked.  
  
Artemis sighed. "Weather."  
  
"Whether what?"  
  
Artemis grimaced. "Are you doing this on purpose?"  
  
"Of course," Minako smirked impishly. "How else am I going to get   
a rise out of you?" She stroked his fur and all was forgiven.  
  
"If something's affecting the climate in direct opposition to   
meteorological conditions, that could be the warning sign of a new   
enemy."  
  
"Great," sighed Minako. "And I was going to take a couple of   
months off. Why are enemies always so inconvenient?" Artemis shook his   
head and padded over to his notebook computer to instant message Luna.  
  
Continued in part 3 


	3. Questions, Questions, Questions

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 3: "Questions, Questions, Questions"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"I wonder what Setsuna wants?" Usagi said. She and Rei walked up   
the street together. Setsuna's house was almost in sight.  
  
"I don't know," Rei replied.   
  
Usagi looked at her askance. "What do you mean you don't know?"  
  
"I mean I don't know!"  
  
"I thought you were psychic!"  
  
"I haven't had any premonitions. I haven't done a fire reading.   
I haven't had a chance to read Setsuna or this mystery guy, so I DON'T   
KNOW!"  
  
"You don't have to yell," huffed Usagi.  
  
"I don't have to talk to you, either, but I do," sniped Rei.   
"Besides, it's hard to read Setsuna. She's got something about her that   
hides her emotions from me - - assuming she even has emotions."  
  
"Rei Hino, that is a cruel thing to say!"  
  
"I know. It's frustrating. The only other person I've never been   
able to read was Grandpa. I'm not used to not getting impressions from   
people. It throws me off."  
  
They arrived at the door and rang the bell. Setsuna answered   
immediately.  
  
"My Princess," she said, bowing to Usagi. "Rei. Thank you both   
for coming so quickly."  
  
"Of course, Setsuna," Usagi smiled. They were ushered in. "Ooh,   
you have a very nice home! I've never been here before! It's just   
lovely!"  
  
"My apologies, Princess, for not having you over sooner," Setsuna   
offered.  
  
"You mentioned Sailor business?" prodded Rei.  
  
Setsuna sighed. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. I shall let you be the   
judge. Please accompany me."  
  
Setsuna led the pair into the bedroom. Once there, both women   
goggled in surprise at the nearly naked winged man. Janus spotted the   
movement and shifted defensively - - until he saw Usagi. Then his face   
calmed and he seemed to relax.  
  
"Hello," Usagi said, giving him one of her radiant smiles. "My   
name's Usagi. And you are . . .?"  
  
"Janus," he said, studying her as a child would study a new toy.  
  
"Oh my, you're hurt!" Usagi gasped. She sat down next to him and   
touched his visible wound. Janus seemed enlivened by her proximity.   
"How did this happen?"  
  
"A fierce battle," he confessed. "They sought to bar my way to   
the portal."  
  
"Who are 'they'?"  
  
"My enemies. I escaped to this place before they could kill me."   
He looked into Usagi's eyes with wonder. "You are one of great power.   
I think your power could dwarf even that of fabled Wodun." Usagi   
blushed.  
  
"Where are you from?" Rei asked, looking at him like she was   
looking through him.  
  
Janus turned to her and a pall of suspicion fell over him. He   
seemed to eye Rei warily.  
  
"It's all right," Usagi told him. "Rei's my friend, just like   
Setsuna is. Just like you are, I hope."  
  
It didn't seem to change his view of the priestess.  
  
"I am from Knorr," he replied cautiously.  
  
"And these enemies?" Rei asked.  
  
"Surts," he murmured, looking cautiously toward Rei. Rei   
continued to stare at him, taking every tic and gesture. "They are the   
Surts. Surts are our enemy sworn. It has always been so."  
  
"Why?" Usagi asked. Janus looked at her, stunned by the question.  
  
"Surts mean to destroy us," Janus replied, amazed she wouldn't   
know this.  
  
"Why would they want to do that?"  
  
"Because they are Surts," Janus said bitterly.  
  
"That doesn't sound like a very good reason," Usagi told him.   
"Have your two peoples ever tried to work it out between the two of you?   
Common ground can always be found if both sides only try."  
  
"It," Janus hesitated, "that could never happen. And yet, when   
you speak such words, I find myself believing."  
  
"If you'd like, when you're stronger, we could go to where you   
come from," Usagi offered. "Perhaps I could talk both sides into   
stopping the fighting. Perhaps I could get them started on the road to   
finding a common ground."  
  
"Do you think that's wise?" Rei demanded urgently.  
  
"Of course," Usagi smiled confidently. "Why wouldn't it be?"  
  
"Your offer is most - - kind," Janus struggled to say, cutting   
Rei's retort off. "I do not think it will succeed, though. Too much   
has happened for there to ever be peace between us and the Surts. We   
will protect our lives and our way."  
  
"I think you're making a mistake," grimaced Usagi.  
  
"I have made them before," Janus smiled. "All I ask of you, and I   
realize it is much to ask, is a haven to recover my strength. I do not   
think the Surts would pursue me to this world. You need not fear."  
  
"Agreed," Setsuna spoke up. Usagi and Rei both turned to her.   
"You may stay here for as long as you wish. Should any come after you,   
I pledge to defend you."  
  
"Of course, Janus," Usagi added. "We'll be glad to help you until   
you get well."  
  
Janus looked up at Setsuna. "You have been too kind to me. You   
have my thanks. Know that one day I will try to help you as you have   
helped me." Setsuna seemed gratified by the response.  
  
"Rest now," Setsuna said, touching his forehead. She and her   
fellow senshi adjourned to the kitchen. Instantly she turned to them.  
  
"What are your impressions?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"He's dreamy," sighed Usagi. Rei scowled and Setsuna seemed   
momentarily uncomfortable.  
  
"Well," Rei hesitated. "Everything he told us was true. I was   
able to read that much, plus I can tell he's a mystical being and I've   
seen mentions of a place called Knorr. It's one of the mystical   
dimensions, like Elysian."  
  
"Where did you encounter this knowledge?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"As my 'sight' grows, it becomes more sensitive to mystical   
beings. And I'm not the only person in history with the sight. In my   
divinity studies, I've run across descriptions of visions by others with   
the sight. They describe mystical dimensions and mention names. I'm   
pretty sure one of them was Knorr."  
  
"Besides, he's dreamy," Usagi added. "Dreamy guys don't lie."  
  
"Dreamy guys are the ones you have to watch out for the most," Rei   
grumbled. "Like I said, everything he told us was true."  
  
"But you imply he is not telling us everything," Setsuna judged.  
  
"He was real suspicious of me, too," Rei noted. "Since he's   
mystical in origin, maybe he could tell I'm a seer and didn't want to   
reveal too much. Maybe it's something else."   
  
"There is one other thing," Setsuna admitted. "During my initial   
time with him, I received a vision of the future." Setsuna hesitated.   
"Perhaps I should not be telling you this."  
  
"You can see the future?" Usagi gasped in wonder.  
  
"My Princess, it is only a refinement of the abilities I have had   
for years. My glimpses of events yet to come are clearer now. And I   
have come to learn that the future is ever changing, based upon the   
actions we take in the now. That is why I hesitate to reveal this   
vision to you."  
  
"Is it good or bad?"  
  
"It is," Setsuna said gravely, "most terrible. My fear is that   
revealing this to you will somehow allow this tragedy to come to pass."   
Setsuna shook her head. "I have said too much. Please pardon me for   
worrying you both."  
  
"Maybe you should tell us, Setsuna," Usagi said. "If it only   
allows you to lift this terrible burden from your shoulders, that's a   
good thing. I can see how depressed it's making you."  
  
"Usagi," Rei interceded. "Setsuna's doing what she thinks is   
right. I've had some experience with tragic visions. It's not always   
in everyone's best interest to know what's coming."  
  
"But if it's bad and you know it's coming, then you can fight it   
or avoid it!" Usagi argued.  
  
"And there are times when a single event, like the tip of an   
iceberg, masks other greater troubles behind it. By avoiding or   
forestalling the initial tragedy, you set off a chain of events that   
will domino into catastrophe. The future is a delicate thing, My   
Princess, and must be handled with great caution." Seeing she still   
wasn't convinced, Setsuna softened. "Allow me at least to meditate upon   
this and attempt to see more before I decide."  
  
"I'll try to divine something, too," Rei offered. "See if I can   
get some handle on what might or might not be coming."   
  
"OK," Usagi murmured. "Well we are agreed that we're going to   
protect him, right? In case some of those Surts come looking for him?"  
  
"So I have sworn," Setsuna said firmly.  
  
"Sure, even if it's just to keep Earth from becoming a potential   
battlefield," Rei replied. "But I'd like to look into this a little   
deeper. I want to know just what he's not telling us."  
  
Usagi's eyes got narrow as she glanced over at Setsuna. Her mouth   
curled up into a grin like a cat lapping cream.  
  
"I noticed the way he was looking at you, Setsuna," Usagi grinned.   
Setsuna flushed, a reaction Rei couldn't remember ever seeing the woman   
have. "So tell me, do you think he's cute?"  
  
"M-My Princess," stammered Setsuna. "I - - no doubt he is - -   
merely grateful for my care and hospitality."  
  
"That's the way it always starts," Usagi said sing-song. "You   
just keep showing him how caring and devoted you can be and . . ."   
  
"All right, put it in neutral, Little Miss Matchmaker!" Rei fumed.   
She grabbed Usagi by the arm and jerked her away.  
  
"But Rei!" howled Usagi.  
  
"Honestly, I can't take you anywhere!" she said as she dragged   
Usagi to the door. "We'll touch back later, Setsuna. Come on!"  
  
"But Rei, they're perfect for each other! Rei!"  
* * * *  
"Dr. Fujihara?" the receptionist said over the phone to Ami. "I   
have a woman here asking if you'll see her. She doesn't have an   
appointment, but she asked me to tell you that it's 'Mrs. Manabe'?"  
  
Ami's eyes lit up. "Yes, I'll squeeze her in! Please send her   
right back!"  
  
The woman, a striking beauty with medium length black hair, was   
escorted back to one of the exam rooms of the doctor's office. She wore   
drab jeans and an inexpensive blouse and dark glasses even inside. Ami   
smothered a grin and ushered her into the room, then closed the door.  
  
"Another successful blind for the mistress of disguise," smirked   
Minako as she whipped off the glasses and wig.  
  
"It's nice to know you haven't lost your flair for the dramatic,"   
grinned Ami.  
  
"Dramatic?" gasped Minako dramatically. "I HAVE to go out like   
that! Otherwise I'll be mobbed by fans! Ami, I can't cross the street   
without half the teenage population of Tokyo descending on me! Not to   
mention reporters and papparazzi!"  
  
"You chose this life," Ami told her.  
  
"And I love it," Minako replied. "But it can wear on you. Which   
is why I'm here. My last show of the tour is tonight and I am just   
beat! Anything you can do?"  
  
"I can tell you to maintain a proper diet, get proper rest and   
exercise, just like I always tell you," Ami said with mild sternness.  
  
"I get the exercise on stage. As for the rest, I'd prefer   
something that doesn't leech every ounce of fun out of my life."  
  
"I suppose I could give you a shot of vitamins," Ami sighed. "I   
doubt you've been eating right. That's about it. I'm not prescribing   
anything stronger for you."  
  
"Hey, I'm not asking," Minako said, throwing up her hands. "I've   
seen way too many people crash and burn from stuff like that on my rocky   
road to overnight stardom. I'm not traveling down that path."  
  
"Well, good for you," Ami said. She pulled out a box of   
pharmaceutical samples and fished through it.  
  
"I've got some tickets to tonight's show if you want them," Minako   
said, digging into her jeans. "Love to have you. You can even bring   
Mr. Boring."  
  
"Hayami is not boring," Ami bristled. "He's quiet."  
  
"Oh, is that what it is?" teased Minako. "I still can't see what   
you see in him."  
  
Ami grew melancholy. "You reach a time in life when you get tired   
of being alone, Minako. Hayami may not be the man I dreamed about when   
I was sixteen, but he's kind and he's considerate and he's someone to be   
with. It took me a while to notice, but he showed me the logic of us   
being together. And you may not think he's handsome or exciting, but   
there's a lot to be said for stability - - and the longer I'm with him,   
the more beautiful things about him I notice."  
  
"Well, as long as you're happy," Minako smiled warmly. "It's a   
hard thing to find sometimes."  
  
"I haven't been keeping track. Is the divorce from Toshihiro   
final yet?"  
  
"About a month ago. And before you say anything, yes I did have   
to jump into bed with Ace! Honestly, you doctors are all so smart! Why   
haven't any of you come up with a cure for him?"  
  
"Medical science can only do so much," Ami said, trying to conceal   
a laugh. "The patient is chiefly responsible for health maintenance by   
avoiding risky situations."  
  
"Learn that at Oxford, did you?" grumbled Minako.  
  
"Here," Ami said, handing Minako two tabs with pills in them.   
"Take these. They're high in iron. It's probably why you're so   
fatigued. And some day you'll meet the right man and your love for him   
will sweep Ace out of your system." She smirked. "Who knows - - he may   
be working in your local library right this minute."  
  
"Heaven forbid," scowled Minako. She downed the vitamins. "Ami,   
this may sound weird, but is anything unusual happening around town?"  
  
"Unusual? Why do you ask?"  
  
"Oh, Artemis has his tail in a knot about the cool weather we've   
been having. He thinks its 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' all over again or   
something. But now he's got my old Sailor V instincts itching,   
wondering if he's really onto something."  
  
"Hmm," thought Ami. "Maybe when I get home, I'll do some quick   
scans of the geological and meteorological data for the island - -   
before Hayami and I go to the concert, of course. If anything abnormal   
comes up, I'll contact you." Ami thought some more. "You might also   
want to check in with Setsuna."  
  
"Setsuna? What's her angle?"  
  
"She has a very intriguing house-guest."  
* * * *  
Akira peered into the dark room before heading home for the   
evening. He was eager to see his wife and young son again, but his   
loyalty to both his ideals and his fellow priest forced him to linger.  
  
Rei was bent over a ceremonial iron fire pit blackened by multiple   
uses, chanting intensely as a fire roared inches from her. Her face was   
red from the heat and slick with perspiration, but she didn't seem to   
notice. She stared intently into the fire without really seeing it, for   
her vision was on a different plane of reality.  
  
It had been a shock to learn that the woman he had come to admire   
for her unwavering dedication to her shrine and her faith was both the   
famous Sailor Mars and a woman gifted with the sight. He'd read about   
people with second sight, labeled precognition by science, but was   
always unsure as to whether they actually existed. Rei actually   
existed, as did her powers. He knew that simply by the way she seemed   
to anticipate people's moods. Further proof came when he spotted her   
fortune-telling for worshippers who stopped by. They claimed they only   
wanted those special charms that only Hikawa had, but Akira was enough   
of a judge of character to know they knew Rei could give them a peek   
into their future.  
  
The knowledge she was also Sailor Mars was just as startling.   
When she was forced to transform in front of him to stop the attack of a   
spirit monster several years ago, he was forced to accept the truth.   
Yet, for all of her ability, Rei still remained a dedicated priest and a   
sad, unrequited woman wounded early by the cruelties of life and   
reluctant to venture out from her safe cocoon. And yet she put that all   
aside without hesitation the moment a threat to someone else appeared.   
Was that why she communicated with the fire now?  
  
"Fukuoka-sensei," bowed Naoko, the shrine maiden on duty. She was   
a round-faced sixteen-year-old with a beautiful spirit who loved her   
time at the shrine, despite Rei's occasional demanding nature. "Is   
Hino-sensei in there? I've been looking for her."  
  
Akira put his finger to his lips. "Quietly Naoko-chan," Akira   
whispered. "Hino-sensei is occupied."  
  
"Fire reading?" Naoko asked. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Perhaps nothing."  
  
"She wouldn't be doing a fire reading unless she was afraid of   
some threat."  
  
"You are correct in that. It does not mean her suspicions are not   
groundless."  
  
"When Hino-sensei senses trouble, she's usually right," Naoko   
said.   
  
"What did you need?"  
  
"I've swept up and stored the charms and incense. I was wondering   
if I could go home. Although if she's fire-reading, maybe I'd better   
stay."  
  
"Go home, child. What she does is very personal. You could not   
help her and she would not wish your help, though she would be honored   
by the offer." Akira smiled. "Do you have a date?"  
  
"Only with my algebra book," Naoko replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Then go home. Hino-sensei would want you to keep up with your   
studies. I will walk you to the street."  
  
"Shouldn't somebody stay with her?"  
  
"We are not the ones she needs by her side," Akira smiled gently.   
"When she has need of them, she will call and they will come. She has   
done this for a great many years, child. Have faith in her."  
  
Akira and Naoko gently shut the door and walked to the street   
level. In the dark room, illuminated only by the light from the fire,   
Rei continued to chant and keen before it, her mind searching the fire   
for the answer to her suspicions. The chanting died down to silence as   
a vision trickled into her head. Rei tried to see it, straining her   
mind's eye to pierce the cloud that made the picture hazy. Her brow   
furrowed. Silently she pleaded with the kami of the fire to make the   
picture clearer.  
  
Her parched lips parted slightly. Seeing nothing in this   
dimension, her eyes stared out. A whispered word formed and spilled   
out.  
  
"Ice."  
  
Continued in Chapter 4 


	4. The Edges of a Mystery

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 4: "The Edges of a Mystery"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Honestly, between all the meetings with the anime company and now   
this, I am so behind you wouldn't believe it!" moaned Usagi. She,   
Makoto and Makoto's two children mounted the steps of Hikawa Shrine. "I   
had to call Mika and ask her to help me with the inking so I could make   
deadline! Thank goodness she was between assignments!"  
  
"It's no more convenient for me," Makoto told her. "I had a late   
night at the restaurant and I was hoping to spend a little time with my   
kids. I hope it's important and yet I hope it isn't, you know?"  
  
"Are you guys going to go fight some bad guys?" Akiko asked.  
  
"I don't know yet, honey," Makoto smiled, treading cautiously.   
"Does that worry you?"  
  
"Heck no!" grinned Akiko. "You're the greatest senshi in the   
world! No bad guy could stand up to you! You'll kick their tail!"  
  
"Who's been teaching you to talk like that?" gasped Makoto.  
  
"Auntie Minako."  
  
"I'll kill her," muttered Makoto. Then she noticed the worried   
look on Ichiro.  
  
"Ichiro honey," Makoto said, kneeling down to the boy. "What's   
wrong?"  
  
"Are you going to go away and fight bad guys?" Ichiro asked   
timidly.  
  
"Maybe not. Maybe it's nothing." She lightly brushed the hair   
from his forehead. "But if Mommy does have to go fight bad guys, you   
know she's going to come right back to you when she's done, don't you?   
Because you're her favorite guy in the whole world and she'd never, ever   
leave you for long. You know that, don't you?"  
  
Ichiro leaped at her and hugged her tight. Makoto put her arms   
around him and cradled the boy to her breast.  
  
"Oh, don't mind him. He's just being a fraidy cat!" scowled   
Akiko. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and looked up. Usagi   
silently shook her head at the girl and Akiko grew quiet.  
  
The foursome walked down the path to the main building where Ami   
and Minako joined them. Akiko and Ichiro both waved.   
  
"Hi, Auntie Ami," Akiko called. "Auntie Minako, when are you   
going to make a new CD?"  
  
"I just released the last one six months ago," Minako chuckled.  
  
"But I know that one by heart already!"  
  
"Tell you what, Akiko-chan. Give me a month to rest my voice and   
then I'll start picking songs. Now you know albums take a while to   
record, but I promise you'll get the first copy when we press it. OK?"   
Akiko nodded vigorously. "Looking good, Ichiro. You get more handsome   
every day, lady-killer."   
  
Minako kissed the boy on the cheek. He instantly made a face and   
wiped it off, drawing amused titters from the longtime friends.  
  
"OK, you two go and play," Makoto told them. "We've got senshi   
business to discuss."  
  
"Just a minute," prompted Usagi before the kids could leave. She   
reached into her purse and handed them a piece of candy. Both kids took   
one and ran off laughing.  
  
"When their dentist bill comes, I'm giving it to you," Makoto told   
Usagi. "Anybody have any idea what's up?"  
  
"Let's go inside first," Rei said, appearing as if from nowhere.   
Usagi jumped with a start and glared at the woman.  
  
Seated in the room that had been their unofficial headquarters for   
twenty years, the five old friends at once put their friendships aside   
and got down to serious business.  
  
"I assume you've both been filled in about what's happened here   
recently?" Rei asked Makoto and Minako. They both nodded. "I did a   
fire reading, trying to get some more information about this Janus guy.   
I couldn't come up with anything about him specifically, but I did have   
a vision." Rei looked down with a heavy heart. "I saw Tokyo completely   
frozen in ice. The city, the people, the animals, the plants,   
everything frozen solid."  
  
"Artemis has been wondering about the recent temperature drop!"   
Minako gasped.  
  
"I know," Usagi added. "He called Luna and now she's running   
around like the Emperor's about to visit."  
  
"I did some computer work, based on what Minako told me," Ami told   
them. "This is a completely anomalous situation." Noting Usagi's blank   
look, Ami rephrased. "There's no meteorological or geological cause for   
this cool weather. With the current position of the jet stream and the   
Pacific currents, we should be fifteen degrees hotter than we are now."  
  
"Well, fifteen degrees isn't that bad, is it?" Makoto asked.   
"It's kind of made this summer bearable."  
  
"If it stops at fifteen degrees," Ami said. "What if the climate   
continues to cool?"  
  
"Is that going to happen?"  
  
"I have to know how it happened in the first place to predict   
that."  
  
"You don't suppose it's the Surts, do you?" Usagi asked.   
Everybody looked at her blankly, particularly Makoto and Minako. "Those   
people who are enemies of Janus. You don't suppose this is their way of   
striking back at him, do you?"  
  
"Wait a minute," Minako said, waving her hand. "Janus's enemy is   
a breath mint?" Makoto reached over and smacked the back of Minako's   
head.  
  
"It's a possibility," Rei replied, ignoring Minako. "It's not one   
I want to contemplate. Frankly, I was getting used to Tokyo not being   
invaded every three months."  
  
"Tell me about it," Makoto said. "I've got a family to worry   
about now. Is there anything we can do to head this off?"  
  
"We don't even know anything's coming yet," Minako said grimly.   
"Why don't you folks keep checking things on your end. Now that my tour   
is done, I've got some time to nose around a little."  
  
"That's going to be a cute trick," Rei smirked. "I want to see   
how you can stay inconspicuous in a crowd of screaming teenagers."  
  
"I've still got my wig and dark glasses," Minako retorted   
playfully. "I'm just saying we need to be alert, but there's no reason   
to hit the panic button just yet, OK?"  
  
"Agreed," Ami replied. The others nodded.  
* * * *  
Setsuna wasn't expecting anyone. She went to the door curious as   
to whom it was. There was some consternation at first that it might be   
some threat to Janus, but she dismissed the thought. Enemies wouldn't   
ring the bell.  
  
"My Princess," she said. "I am surprised to see you here again.   
Please come in." After closing the door behind Usagi, Setsuna turned to   
her. "Has something occurred that I should be aware of?  
  
"Not really," Usagi smiled, trying to assuage the woman's fears.   
"I was just on my way home from Hikawa and I thought I'd check in on how   
Janus is doing."  
  
"He is improved," Setsuna reported as the pair ambled along the   
hall to the bedrooms. "He will not be without pain for a good while   
yet, but his strength and vitality have greatly increased since the   
first moments I saw him." Setsuna smiled at a private jest. "And he   
has cleared his first hurdle, in that my cooking has not killed him."  
  
Usagi grinned at the joke. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure with   
your care he'll be up and around in no time. Is there going to be a   
problem with the university? Because one of us can watch him for you   
. . .!"  
  
"I have already informed them of my need to take a leave of   
absence," Setsuna replied. "Your offer, though, is appreciated."  
  
The pair arrived at the room. Usagi peeked in and found Janus   
trying to sit up. He grimaced in pain as pressure came onto his injured   
hip.  
  
"Now where do you think you're going?" demanded Usagi. Janus   
flinched from surprise until he saw it was Usagi.  
  
"Nowhere, brilliant one," he whispered. "I merely grow tired of   
lying on my back."  
  
"Are you in pain?" Setsuna asked him.  
  
"The pain is minor," Janus grimaced. Then he looked up at her and   
softened with gratitude and perhaps something more. "Thank you for your   
concern."  
  
"Brilliant one?" asked Usagi, puzzled.  
  
"Your power and your essence," replied Janus. "It shines like a   
sun. It is a fitting name." He turned away, embarrassed. "And I   
forgot your actual name."  
  
Usagi grinned. "It's Usagi. But you can call me 'Brilliant one'   
if it's easier for you - - especially around Rei." She knelt before   
him. "Janus, would those Surts you talked about have anything to do  
with the recent drop in temperature?"  
  
"I know nothing of such things," he replied. "Though it is the   
way of Surts to skulk, it does not seem to be their way. And I must   
confess I have not noticed the temperature being cold. To me, it is   
very warm in this place. Perhaps it is because I am infirm."  
  
"OK," Usagi smiled. "You take it easy now. Maybe I could stop by   
another time and you could tell me more about these Surts?"  
  
"If you wish," Janus nodded. "I welcome your visit. For some   
reason, I feel stronger around you. You seem to aid in my recovery   
nearly as much as my kind host."  
  
Usagi and Setsuna left the room and adjourned to the kitchen.  
  
"Has he said anything about who he is or about where he's from?"   
Usagi asked.  
  
"No," Setsuna told her. "I sense he is a warrior of great   
personal conviction. In a way, he is not unlike Haruka. He is very   
loyal and very dedicated and he bears much pain without complaint."  
  
"And what about the two of you?" Usagi probed. "Has he admitted   
that he likes you?"  
  
"M-My Princess," sputtered Setsuna.  
  
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed," smirked Usagi. "Even I'm not   
that gullible."  
  
"You are quite mistaken," Setsuna stumbled.  
  
"Setsuna, I can be mistaken about a lot of things, but not that.   
He likes you. It's more than gratitude. He's attracted to you. I can   
tell. And I can tell you're attracted to him."  
  
"I," Setsuna began, "will confess to a certain - - admiration - -   
of his ability to endure."  
  
"Setsuna," Usagi said, grasping the woman's hands in hers, "don't   
be afraid. You've been alone for as long as I've known you. It's about   
time you got a little romance in your life. You're past due."  
  
"My Princess," Setsuna replied. "Solitude does not have to be the   
death sentence you believe it to be."  
  
"Well, maybe not for some people. But love isn't something to be   
afraid of. I can see the spark between you two. It won't take much   
effort from you to fan it. Just don't snuff it out because you're   
afraid of getting burned."  
  
"My Princess," Setsuna smiled. "How profound you have become."  
  
"That did come out pretty good, didn't it?" Usagi grinned. "I've   
got to write that down. Maybe I can use it in a story."  
  
Setsuna escorted the woman to the door.  
  
"You are still mistaken, My Princess," Setsuna said in farewell.   
"But I shall take your words of advice to heart just the same."  
  
"You do that," Usagi beamed. "Because I'm not wrong."  
* * * *  
When she got home, Usagi had a surprise waiting for her.  
  
"Mom!" Usagi gasped. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Ikuko said. "Did I come at a bad time?"  
  
"No. It's just - - how did you get in?"  
  
"Luna let me in."  
  
Usagi started to speak, then stopped. "No, I won't ask how."  
  
"She seems quiet upset about something. Is something wrong?"  
  
"Oh, you know Luna. She's always seeing problems everywhere. Now   
she's worried about the sudden drop in temperature."  
  
"Well," the fifty-eight year old woman said thoughtfully. "What   
if she's right? What if someone or something is causing it?"  
  
"Then the senshi and I will handle it, Mom," Usagi smiled   
reassuringly. She noticed her answer didn't seem to satisfy Ikuko.   
"Mom, what's bothering you really?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just being a silly old woman. It's   
just," and she searched for the right way to articulate her feelings.   
"Usagi, I never told your father or your brother about your double life.   
Now I'm beginning to wonder if they should know. Kenji at least."  
  
"Do you think I should tell him?" Usagi asked.  
  
"It's up to you, dear. It's your life and you know best how to   
lead it. You've certainly done all right so far. All those worries I   
had when you were a teen certainly seem groundless now."  
  
"Well, a lot of that worrying helped shove me in the right   
direction," Usagi offered. "I don't remember being very grateful then,   
but you were right about a lot more things than I ever admitted to."  
  
"It's not like I had a handbook or anything. I was going by   
instinct and what my mother taught me. Maybe it's instinct now, but   
I've been getting the feeling that it's no longer a good idea to have   
secrets from your father. Something tells me you should tell him - -   
while you can."  
  
"Daddy's not sick, is he?" Usagi fretted.  
  
"No," smiled Ikuko. "Kenji's a little heavier than he should be,   
but I suppose that's mostly my fault. I do love to cook for him and he   
feels obligated to eat it." Ikuko shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe I'm   
just fretting over nothing. It's your decision, honey. Just, please   
think about it. You can lead a dangerous life at times, and your father   
isn't getting any younger. I'd hate for something to happen and have   
you or he regret this."  
  
"OK, Mom," Usagi said, placing her hand on her mother's arm. "I   
guess you do make sense when you put it that way. How do you think   
he'll take it?"  
  
"Your father?" Ikuko smiled. "He'll probably spend the next two   
weeks at the library's newspaper back-issue room assembling a huge   
scrapbook of each one of your cases. I'll probably have to threaten him   
to keep him from telling the whole neighborhood."  
  
Both women shared a laugh.  
  
"Was that all you wanted, Mom?" Usagi asked.  
  
"Yes," Ikuko nodded, "unless you wanted to send a message to the   
thirtieth century and ask your daughter to visit her grandmother."  
  
"Mom," Usagi rolled her eyes. "How many times have we had this   
conversation?"  
  
"All right, all right," Ikuko said, her hands up in surrender.  
  
"If it's any consolation, Mom," Usagi offered, "I miss her, too."  
* * * *  
"And in sport, the racing world was rocked today by the abrupt   
retirement of two-time Formula One points champion Haruka Tenoh."  
  
"Mamo-chan!" Usagi squealed. She perked up from her spot nestled   
against her husband's chest. "Haruka's on television!"  
  
"The reclusive Tenoh-san, thirty-nine, refused to give any   
explanation for her decision," reported the news reader. "Despite her   
age, Tenoh-san is currently third in the overall Formula One points   
standings and was a favorite to capture her third points title. She   
retires as the first and so far only woman to ever capture a Formula One   
championship."  
  
"I wonder why she retired all of a sudden," Mamoru wondered aloud.  
  
"Maybe Michiru finally talked her into it," suggested Usagi.   
"Michiru's wanted her to quit for years now."  
  
"But why so suddenly?"  
  
"I don't know. Maybe Michiru's pregnant." Mamoru gave his wife a   
disbelieving look. "It could happen!"  
  
"How?"  
  
"I don't know how! You're the doctor!"  
  
Mamoru eased his wife's head back onto his shoulder and patted it,   
as if he were trying to keep her from overtaxing herself. It was a   
gesture that irritated Usagi no end.  
  
"In weather," the newscaster continued, "all of Japan remains   
under an extraordinary cooling trend. Meteorologists can offer no   
explanation for why Japan is fifteen degrees cooler than it should be.   
The only discovery they have made is that the phenomenon is no longer   
confined to Japan. All countries along the Pacific rim are now   
reporting unseasonably cooler temperatures, sometimes ten to fifteen   
degrees cooler. A meeting of the International Meteorological Society   
is being hastily convened in Melbourne, Australia, to study the problem.   
Because of this, expect unseasonably cool temperatures for the next   
seventy-two hours. Chance of rain tomorrow is ten percent, rising to   
thirty percent on Thursday."  
  
"I wonder what's going on," Mamoru murmured.   
  
Usagi pulled herself up and looked at him. After twenty years   
with the man, she knew his moods and ways better than any other person.   
She could tell when he was troubled by something.  
  
"Mamo-chan?" she asked. "What's wrong?"  
  
He looked at her, caught.  
  
"I don't know," he confessed. "I'm getting - - feelings."  
  
"Feelings?"  
  
"Nothing definite. I just - - get this vague impression of   
menace."  
  
"To who?"  
  
"To the world, I guess. If this weather phenomenon continues   
unchecked, it could ultimately plunge the world into another ice age."  
  
"That won't happen," Usagi told him, stroking his cheek with the   
back of her hand. "If it doesn't stop itself, someone will find a way   
to stop it."  
  
Mamoru stroked his wife's hair and smiled at her. But Usagi   
wasn't fooled.  
  
"There's more, isn't there?" she asked.  
  
"You know me too well," Mamoru said, dropping his eyes. "I'm also   
getting something else. It feels like a nameless fear. Some sense that   
tells you about danger even when your other five senses don't say   
anything."  
  
Usagi nodded.  
  
"I don't know how. I don't know why. I don't even know if - -   
but I have this strange feeling that you're a target, too. That   
whatever's going on and whoever's doing it - - if anything's actually   
happening - - they have to go through you to accomplish it."  
  
And Usagi saw the fear in his eyes, the fear Mamoru carried with   
him of losing her and being alone again. She saw in his eyes once again   
that scared little ten year old who lost his parents and suddenly faced   
a callous, cruel world with no one else to turn to for love and   
protection. And Usagi flung herself at him, crushing him to her breast.   
She felt his arms wrap around her waist, cling to her for strength and   
reassurance. Her lips kissed him on the top of his head as she stroked   
his thick black hair.  
  
"Nothing's going to happen, Mamo-chan," she whispered. "Nothing's   
going to take me away from you - - nothing." She felt him squeeze even   
harder and was eternally grateful for it.  
  
Continued in Chapter 5 


	5. The First Blossom of Feelings

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 5: "The First Blossom of Feelings"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Ami studied the readout of the Electronic Health Monitor stuck to   
the chest of her patient. The Electronic Health Monitor, or EHM,   
tracked blood pressure, heart rate, pulse rate, respiration and   
oxygenation and displayed these readings, and it was small enough to fit   
in the palm of a person's hand. It was very expensive, but Ami was so   
enamored with it that she didn't practice medicine anymore without it.  
  
Janus, her patient, looked at the box with obvious mistrust. He   
only allowed it because Setsuna was in the room. He didn't like it, but   
for her he allowed it.  
  
"Well, your vitals are very low for a normal human," Ami judged,   
"but of course you aren't a normal human. You seem to be in no   
distress. Your leg wound has healed. The dislocation of your hip is   
healing nicely. So is your shoulder."  
  
"You are a good healer," Janus nodded. "You are wise in many   
things. No doubt you have aided me greatly. I thank you."  
  
"I'm glad to help," Ami smiled and patted his arm. She rose and   
was escorted out by Setsuna.  
  
"He is healing?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"Remarkably well," Ami told her. "If he continues to progress the   
way he did over the past month, I'll have to revise my estimate on when   
he'll be well enough to return home."  
  
"Oh," Setsuna said, slightly disappointed. She brightened. "That   
is good news."  
  
Ami wanted to say something else. Instead, she said, "I'll check   
back in a few days." She examined the vial of pain medicine on the   
table. "This is still full. Isn't he taking them?"  
  
Setsuna displayed a wry smile. "He refuses. He says it is the   
duty of a warrior to endure pain in order to achieve a goal."  
  
"How absolutely Cro-Magnon," laughed Ami.  
  
"Is it not?" agreed Setsuna. "And yet - - on him, it is strangely   
endearing."  
  
After Ami left, Setsuna fixed a tray of food for Janus and carried   
it in to him. He seemed to light up upon her appearance. She placed   
the tray on his lap and sat down next to the bed.  
  
"You have strange food in this world," he told her as he ate. "It   
is good - - but strange."  
  
"No doubt I would feel the same were I on Knorr," Setsuna replied.  
  
"Yes," nodded Janus. "I fear you would not like Knorr now.   
Still, given enough time, you could - - adjust to it."  
  
"Do you miss it?"  
  
"Yes," he said, then glanced at her. "Though not as much as I   
thought I would." Setsuna dropped her eyes. "You have been very good   
to me. You are very kind and understanding - - very loyal. These are   
good qualities."  
  
"I thank you for the compliment," Setsuna replied.  
  
"And you are quite beautiful. You are not like the women of   
Knorr. I find that exotic." He noted her reaction. "This makes you   
uncomfortable?"  
  
"I," Setsuna began haltingly, "there are others more beautiful   
than I."  
  
"Perhaps," he smiled. "There are other warriors with more battles   
fought and more kills made than I. It does not mean I am not a warrior,   
too." He gazed at her intently. "Setsuna, is there someone you care   
for?"  
  
"My Princess," she replied. "Ami and Rei and . . ."  
  
"No," Janus grinned. "Not your comrades. Forgive me. I am a   
warrior and words are not my mettle. I meant - - a mate."  
  
Inwardly Setsuna felt her heart leap.  
  
"I have no one who is or wishes to be my mate," she said softly.  
  
"No one? Ever?"  
  
"Ever."  
  
"A fine and beautiful woman such as yourself? How can this be?   
Are the men of this world blind?"  
  
"It is how life has played out," Setsuna said with a   
self-conscious smile.  
  
Janus looked down, gathering his warrior's courage.   
  
"Perhaps then you would consider me?" he asked. "I find myself   
saddened when you are not by my side. I find myself thinking about you   
rather than my world and the defense of my people. I wonder about you   
- - your past, your future, what makes you cry and what makes you   
smile."  
  
He noticed Setsuna shift uncomfortably.  
  
"True, we are not of the same earth. Perhaps that may cause us   
some trouble in the future. I would gladly brave it - - for you. And   
one day perhaps you would find me as worthy."  
  
"I think that day is here," Setsuna said, gently gliding her hand   
over his forearm. She looked up into the eyes of the man she knew as   
Janus. "I must confess something to you, Janus. I am perhaps gifted,   
perhaps cursed, with abilities to see into the past and the future. I   
had one such vision earlier." Her lips moved into a smile. "In that   
vision, I saw you and I, locked in a passionate embrace. I must admit   
it is the first vision I have ever had that I have longed to see come   
true." She stared into his eyes and saw no fear, no rejection. "In the   
face of such evidence, I am compelled to say yes."  
  
Janus broke into a happy smile and it seemed to lift Setsuna to   
even greater heights. The man seemed to grow even more handsome and   
perfect with the beaming, joyous smile. Flexing his rippling arms and   
shoulders, Janus pushed himself with some difficulty to a sitting   
position on the edge of the bed. To ease his way, Setsuna got up and   
sat down next to him. His wing opened slightly and seemed to canopy   
over her protectively. Encouraged by her proximity, Janus slowly leaned   
into her until their lips were millimeters apart.  
  
"I would kiss you now," he said, hushed and respectful.  
  
"I would not resist," she replied, hushed and anticipating.  
  
And for the first time in her life, Setsuna Meiou felt the touch   
of another person's lips on hers. She felt the arms of another snake   
around her waist and hold her safe and secure. She felt her arms glide   
around another's neck to hold that person to her. In her breast, a need   
was fulfilled and in its place a new need was born.   
  
And for the future mistress of time, time seemed to stand still.  
* * * *  
It was later - - several dozen long, lingering kisses later, along   
with a few robust hugs and some whispered personal feelings and secrets   
- - that Setsuna heard the bell chime on her front door.  
  
"Unfathomable," she sighed aloud. "No one has visited me here in   
over a year. And now . . .!"  
  
"Perhaps you should see who it is," Janus grinned, lightly   
tickling Setsuna's ear with his finger because at the moment it pleased   
him. "It could be one of your comrades with important news."  
  
"But that would mean leaving you," Setsuna replied with an   
intoxicated grin. "I do not wish to do that."  
  
"I will be here when you return," he reassured her. "An entire   
Mog battalion could not move me from this spot."  
  
"You exaggerate," Setsuna smiled, "I think. Perhaps you will not   
be moved. But will you still l. . . care for me when I return?"  
  
"That will not change either," he said, staring into her eyes. "I   
am very loyal."  
  
The bell rang again. Scowling, Setsuna got up to answer it,   
straightening her rumpled blouse and skirt as she walked. She found   
Usagi and Minako at the door.  
  
"Hi!" Usagi grinned as Minako, in her black wig and dark glasses,   
peered over Setsuna's shoulder. "I just wanted to let Minako meet   
Janus. Is that OK? Oh, and this is Minako."  
  
Setsuna smiled. "I was aware of that. It would take more than a   
wig and glasses to fool me."  
  
"How much more?" Minako asked, concerned.  
  
Ignoring the question, Setsuna ushered them in. Minako doffed her   
disguise and they appeared at the door to Janus's room.   
  
"Brilliant One," he smiled. He still sat on the edge of the bed,   
his wings extended out modestly.  
  
"Hi, Janus," Usagi smiled. "I wanted you to meet a friend of   
mine. Janus, this is Minako."  
  
Minako was staring in amazement. Usagi nudged her.  
  
"Wow!" she gasped. "You're really cute! Um, I mean - - pleased   
to meet you!"  
  
"As am I," Janus smiled. "Are you sisters? You look much alike."  
  
"We get that all the time," grinned Usagi.  
  
"Actually we were separated at birth," chuckled Minako. "I got   
all the beauty and talent and she got the Silver Crystal." Usagi glared   
at her.  
  
"How do you progress with your problem?" Janus asked.  
  
"Not well," Usagi replied. "We don't even know what we're looking   
for, really."  
  
"You will succeed. Remain determined." Painfully Janus turned   
and poured water into two glasses, then gave one to Usagi. "A custom of   
my land. 'We drink the elixir of clarity and purpose, so none may   
defeat us'."  
  
He drank from the glass, so Usagi followed suit.  
  
"Thank you. You are nice. And it's good to see you getting   
better," Usagi said. "Would you excuse me now? I have to talk with   
Setsuna."  
  
"I'll keep Hunk-us entertained," smiled Minako. "It must be cool   
to have those wings. Do they work?"  
  
When they were alone, Usagi turned to Setsuna with a sly look on   
her face.  
  
"So, has there been any progress?" she leered.  
  
"You see his improvement for yourself," Setsuna replied.  
  
"Not that! I mean - - you two."  
  
"My Princess," Setsuna said uncomfortably, "I do not know what you   
mean."  
  
"THERE HAS! DID YOU TELL HIM? WHAT DID HE SAY?"  
  
"My Princess," Setsuna continued.  
  
"Don't tell stories! It's written all over your face!"  
  
"Oh very well," she smiled helplessly. "I suppose there is no   
reason to conceal it. I have developed intense feelings for Janus. I   
admitted as much to him." She looked at her friend incredulously. "He   
says he feels the same. Help me, My Princess. I do not know if this is   
love or not. I feel so strongly about him. I miss him when we are   
apart, sometimes even when I am in the next room. My fondest wishes   
now center on pleasing him, seeing him content. You are much more the   
expert in these matters than I. Tell me, Princess. Is this love I   
feel?"  
  
"If it's not, it's awful close," smiled Usagi. "I suppose the   
only way to answer that question totally is over time."  
  
"How ironic," Setsuna mused.  
  
"Have you kissed him yet?" Usagi inquired. "Oh my, I can't   
believe I asked that! That is so rude! Please, Setsuna, forget I said   
that!"  
  
"I am not insulted," Setsuna said gently. "In point of fact, we   
were doing just that when you arrived."  
  
"Was it nice?"  
  
"It was," Setsuna grinned, "as heady an intoxicant as I have ever   
sampled in my life. I wonder now how I got through my days prior   
without it."  
  
"You see," Usagi smirked knowingly. "Princess knows what she's   
talking about."  
  
"I have never questioned your wisdom, My Princess," Setsuna said   
gently.  
  
Usagi clasped Setsuna's hands. "I'm so happy for you, Setsuna.   
I've worried about you for so very long. Now I know you're finally in   
good hands. Janus seems to be a wonderful guy. I hope it all works out   
for you."  
  
"I thank you, Princess," Setsuna smiled, misting up.  
  
"We'll go now, so you can 'get back to things'." She went into   
the other room and grabbed Minako. "Come on, Minako, we have to go."  
  
"Aw, come on, Usagi!" Minako whined. "Can't I stay for another   
century or two?"  
  
"Now!"  
  
"Oh, all right. It was real nice meeting you, Janus. I'll send   
you a CD. Then I'll come back and show you how to play it!" Another   
jerk. "Usagi! I have to get my wig on straight!"  
  
"She is a strange one," Janus grinned at Setsuna after the door   
closed. "I see the warrior within, though. You are a formidable band."   
He extended his hand out to her. "And I have stayed true to my pledge,   
my Setsuna. My feelings for you have not changed."  
  
Gratefully, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her next to   
him.  
* * * *  
There was a spring to Setsuna's step as she glided through the   
house doing her daily chores. Everything seemed lighter, fresher and   
easier to move. The glass in the windows seemed to sparkle just a   
little brighter and the dying rays of dusk seemed to feel that much more   
invigorating. Soon she would return to Janus's side. It had been so   
long since she'd seen him last. Never before had twenty-five minutes   
seemed to be an eternity.  
  
The doorbell rang. Setsuna noticed for the first time how   
melodious the chime was. How could she have lived for as long as she   
had and not noticed such a thing? She went to the door, unable to   
expunge the smile from her face.  
  
"Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Michiru smirked. She and   
Haruka stood on the step, arm in arm.  
  
"Come in, please!" Setsuna gasped happily. She ushered her two   
long lost companions into the house and hugged them both. "It has been   
too long since we have been together. Other than seeing you on   
television when you played with the philharmonic, I have not seen either   
of you for over a year."  
  
"It has been too long," Michiru said with a genuine smile. Her   
smile, though, quickly faded to pained distress. "I only wish this   
reunion were due to happier circumstances."  
  
"You have sensed the warning cry of danger?" Setsuna asked,   
instantly serious.  
  
"We both have," Haruka said. She unzipped her wind-breaker.   
"Something's coming. Something bad. Neither of us know just what yet,   
but we know it's coming. That's why I retired so suddenly from the   
Formula One circuit. I have to be available when it arrives."  
  
"Have you sensed anything, Setsuna?" Michiru asked, her eyes deep   
and probing as always.  
  
"I have," Setsuna replied reluctantly. "My visions of possible   
futures have been increasing. One in particular was - - quite   
disturbing."  
  
"What was it?" Haruka asked.  
  
Setsuna hesitated. "Please forgive me. I should not speak of   
such things."  
  
"Hey, Setsuna, this is us!" Haruka said sharply. "How many   
battles have we fought together? We've got your back. You can trust   
us! You know that!"  
  
"Haruka," Setsuna said with difficulty, "the future is an   
ever-shifting tablet. It is governed by every action we take or do not   
take. To know one's future is a dangerous thing. That knowledge alone   
could shift the future, perhaps to something even bleaker."  
  
"Well you know," argued Haruka. "How do you know that knowledge   
hasn't changed things?"  
  
"I have been given this sight for a reason," Setsuna replied   
calmly, "a reason I have yet to discern. Perhaps in wielding it, I will   
err. Perhaps it is my destiny to err. I do not have the knowledge to   
judge such things. I can only do what I think is right."  
  
"Of course," Michiru interjected. "Forgive us if we were rude.   
We only want to do what's right as well and assembling every scrap of   
knowledge we can only helps us do this."  
  
Setsuna nodded and the matter was closed. She escorted them into   
the kitchen for tea.  
  
"Please understand," Setsuna told them, "that despite our   
disagreement, I am committed to you both. I will say this much. You   
are both correct to fear. Should the calamity I have foreseen come to   
pass, I will of course fight by your side."  
  
"That's good to hear," Michiru smiled. "We're that much stronger   
with you."  
  
"If an enemy does come, maybe we can throw this tea at them,"   
Haruka jabbed. Setsuna, as she always did, let it pass.  
  
"We haven't intruded on anything, have we?" Michiru asked.   
  
When Setsuna looked at her, she saw Michiru had noticed the tray   
and plates from the dinner she'd served Janus. Her cheeks colored and   
she dropped her eyes.   
  
"We are intruding!" Michiru gasped, her lips turned up. "Oh, now   
I am so embarrassed!"   
  
Her eyes narrowed. She leaned in closer.   
  
"And curious."   
  
"I," Setsuna said, struggling to suppress a grin, "have a guest."  
  
"Is she pretty?" leered Haruka.  
  
"He," Setsuna emphasized, "is - - quite desirable."   
  
"Haruka," Michiru asked in mock surprise, "are we in the right   
house?"  
  
"Your feeble attempt at satire is as unsuccessful as ever,"   
Setsuna replied, her mouth screwed into a cynical grin.  
  
"Well, are you going to introduce us, or do we have to read about   
it in the gossip columns?" Haruka prodded.  
  
"Yes," Setsuna said, suddenly energetic. "Yes, of course!" She   
stopped suddenly. "There are, though, things I must tell you in   
advance. His name is Janus and he is not of this Earth."  
  
"What?" goggled Michiru.  
  
"He is of a mystical dimension. He fled to Earth to escape an   
enemy. Because of this, he is initially mistrustful of strangers. I   
must plead with you both not to be insulted or belligerent toward him   
due to his initial manner."  
  
"Yes, of course," Michiru nodded.  
  
"I'll be the soul of charm," grinned Haruka.  
  
"Careful, dear," Michiru smirked. "You might strain something."  
  
Cautiously she led them to the doorway of the room Janus rested   
in. Janus reclined on the bed, restless and bored. One of Setsuna's   
books sat on the bed by his side. When he sensed their presence, he   
turned and tensed.  
  
"Please relax, Janus," Setsuna said. "They mean you no harm."  
  
"They are more of your fellow warriors?" Janus asked. Setsuna   
nodded. "They have the look of warriors - - particularly the tall one.   
Woe to the fool that challenges her."  
  
"I get by," Haruka said indifferently.  
  
"Setsuna says you're from a mystical dimension?" Michiru   
commented.  
  
"Yes. I fell wounded at her feet. She cares for me while I   
heal," Janus replied, meeting her gaze unflinchingly. "I am greatly in   
her debt. If you name her friend, you are indeed fortunate."  
  
"We do," Michiru said, "and we are." She glanced at her watch.   
"We really have to go, Setsuna. We just wanted to touch base with you.   
If we learn anything else, we'll contact you."  
  
"I pray that you will learn nothing and that our skills will not   
be needed," Setsuna told her.  
  
"As do we all," Michiru replied.  
  
The women hugged and Setsuna escorted them out the door. As the   
couple eased down the walk to the street, Haruka glanced at her   
life-mate.  
  
"What do you think?" she asked, trusting implicitly Michiru's   
ability to judge someone by first impression.  
  
Michiru's eyes narrowed. "I don't like him," she said through   
thin lips.  
  
Continued in Chapter 6 


	6. Suspicious Minds

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 6: "Suspicious Minds"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Hi, Michiru," Usagi greeted the woman at her front door. "Come   
in, please."  
  
"I'm sorry if I'm intruding, Usagi," Michiru told her. She   
noticed the paper fixed to the drawing board over in the corner. "Were   
you working?"  
  
"Yeah," Usagi said, scurrying into the kitchen to get some tea.   
"I am SO behind on the next chapter of 'Fire Princess Rika' that my   
editor is ready to murder me! Is Haruka with you?"  
  
"No, she had other things to attend to. Perhaps I should come   
back another . . .?"  
  
"That's all right. If you don't mind my not looking at you, we   
can talk while I draw. I've got the thumbnails done, so it won't take   
that much concentration."  
  
"And it isn't something frightfully complex, such as walking and   
chewing gum," needled Luna, emerging from the bedroom. She executed a   
feline stretch as she walked across the room. "Hello, Michiru. I   
wasn't aware that you and Haruka were even back in Tokyo."  
  
"We just got in a few days ago," Michiru said as Usagi popped out   
of the kitchen and flipped water at Luna from her hand. The cat jumped   
as the drops struck her and returned the gesture with an impatient   
glare. Michiru hesitated delicately over her next question. "Has there   
been any sign of trouble brewing around Tokyo?"  
  
"Well, Artemis and I have been looking into the recent temperature   
drop. It can't possibly be natural, you know. Tokyo's down twenty   
degrees now and the mean temperature is down ten degrees worldwide."  
  
"Perhaps that's what we sensed."  
  
"What did you sense?" Usagi asked, entering with a cup of tea.   
She handed it to Michiru.  
  
"Nothing specific," Michiru said. "Just a premonition of danger.   
But a global cooling would fit the bill. Have you found a cause?"  
  
"No," scowled Luna. "And it's got Artemis quite peeved. He so   
despises questions with no answers. Given the potential threat, it   
doesn't reassure me either."  
  
"Maybe everyone's worrying over nothing," Usagi said as she   
sketched a figure onto the page on her board. "It's just a little cool   
weather."  
  
"It's not normal," Luna fussed. "And if the temperature keeps   
going down, it'll become catastrophic. Perhaps this is the first sign   
of another ice age. There's still no conclusive proof as to what caused   
the first one, you know."  
  
"Well, you'll find it, whatever it is," Usagi smiled. "I've got   
confidence in Artemis. I've even got confidence in you."  
  
"My, go away for a little while and so much changes," remarked   
Michiru. "It seems to suddenly be a time for unusual occurrences. Have   
you been to see Setsuna recently?"  
  
"Yes! Did you meet Janus? Isn't he just so nice?"  
  
"Setsuna certainly seems enamored with him." Michiru grew   
cautious. "How much does she know about him?"  
  
"She knows she likes him," shrugged Usagi. "She knows he likes   
her."  
  
"Does he? How does she know?"  
  
"Well," Usagi said innocently, looking up from her page, "how do   
you know Haruka loves you? How do I know Mamo-chan loves me? How does   
Luna know Artemis loves . . .?"  
  
"Leave Artemis and I out of this," Luna bristled. "Our feelings   
are none of your affair."  
  
"Oh, poo!" fussed Usagi. "Sometimes a girl just knows. And   
sometimes she just has to trust."  
  
"A naïve attitude like that can get a person hurt," Michiru   
argued.  
  
"Well, love is a gamble, Michiru. But you know as well as I do   
how fantastic the rewards can be when you win."  
  
"If it were just Setsuna's heart, it would be one thing. What if   
it's more? What if the gamble had the safety of the world at stake?"  
  
Usagi seemed puzzled by the question, but Luna stared at Michiru   
aghast.  
  
"Janus?" Luna asked.  
  
"Huh?" Usagi said.  
  
"When did this Janus show up?" Michiru asked, her neck and back   
stiffening to defend her position, a trait the others recognized all too   
well.  
  
"I don't know. A little more than a month ago, I think," Usagi   
said, still mystified.  
  
"Right about the time the temperature began dropping."  
  
"That's purely circumstantial!" huffed Luna.  
  
"The wise person doesn't dismiss circumstantial evidence," Michiru   
replied. "The wise person merely assigns it proper value and uses it to   
direct her to the truth."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Usagi gasped. "You think Janus is responsible   
for all this?"  
  
"Did you know he's not of this world?" Michiru asked. "That he's   
from a mystical dimension?"  
  
"So was Helios," snapped Luna, "and he proved to be an ally."  
  
"And hopefully Janus is as well," Michiru said. "But he has to   
prove that to my satisfaction first before I begin to trust him."  
  
"No!" Usagi said, in shock. "Michiru, you're wrong about him! I   
know it! Janus couldn't do something like that! He couldn't be trying   
to put the world in danger!"  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because he loves Setsuna! I know! I've looked into his eyes and   
I've seen it! He'd never put her into that kind of danger! Never!"  
  
"I see nothing much has changed in you," sighed Michiru. "You're   
still letting your optimism blind you to dangerous reality."  
  
"And you're still as cynical as ever," scowled Luna.   
  
"My cynicism has saved me on more than one occasion," Michiru   
replied icily.  
  
"And Usagi's optimism has saved us all, on numerous occasions!   
That's a fact you still ignore when it seems to suit you!"  
  
"I acknowledge all of Usagi's victories. I even acknowledge that   
she was right and I was wrong on more than one occasion. But that   
doesn't change the fact that she's gambling, trusting, just like in   
love. And one day she's going to gamble and lose and there'll be Hell   
to pay. I've never had the faith you others have. I'd still rather   
trust my cynicism than her luck."   
  
Michiru rose to go.  
  
"I'm sorry this discussion got heated, Usagi. I hope your luck   
holds out a little longer for Setsuna's sake. She's our friend even   
more than she is yours. But Haruka and I are going to keep digging.   
And if ultimately it comes down to a choice between Setsuna's heart and   
the safety of the world," and Michiru got that cold-blooded look in her   
eye that always scared Usagi down to the bottom of her feet, "we will   
take him out."  
  
"You are wrong, Michiru," Usagi said sadly as the woman headed for   
the door.  
  
"I'm not afraid to find out, Usagi," she said, pausing at the   
door. "Are you?"  
  
Luna looked up at Usagi sadly as the woman hung her head in gloom.  
* * * *  
"Of all the nerve!" Luna huffed as she tapped out commands on a   
computer keyboard. "To come right out and accuse Janus of duplicity to   
Usagi's face!"  
  
"Well, Michiru's always been the suspicious type," Artemis said as   
he adjusted his sensor sweep. "But she's got her good side, too. Once   
she saw Hotaru was being used, she stepped up and practically adopted   
the girl."  
  
"How grand for her," sniffed Luna imperiously, "given that she   
would have killed Hotaru given the chance. And she's as much threatened   
to do the same to Janus."  
  
"Mmm," mused Artemis. "Luna, what if she's right?"  
  
"Come again?" Luna asked menacingly.  
  
"Well, all this did start right about when he showed up."  
  
Luna gave him a withering glare.  
  
"It's worth checking," Artemis maintained. "Look, I don't want to   
see Setsuna hurt anymore than you do. Probably anymore than Michiru   
does. But we can't take the risk. Rei said it herself, this one could   
be really bad."  
  
Luna looked down. "I just - - Usagi says he's all right, and   
she's been right too many times. And she is destined to be Queen   
Serenity, you know, and she does have the Silver Crystal. Perhaps that   
gives her insights into people that we don't have."  
  
"True," nodded Artemis. "But she's also very trusting."  
  
A flashing point on Luna's monitor interrupted the discussion.  
  
"Artemis, I have something: 42 by 221 by 86."  
  
"Let me see," Artemis said, pushing next to her. Once more the   
feel of Artemis in proximity to her made Luna's heart flutter.   
"Definite negative energy flow. It's so small, though."  
  
"Is that what we're looking for?" Luna asked.  
  
"Won't know until we check it." He turned to Luna and gave her a   
jaunty smile. "Care for a walk in the park?"  
  
Luna smirked in return. "Unescorted? My, aren't you the cheeky   
one. Very well, just this once - - and only if you behave like a   
gentleman."  
  
"I wouldn't dare do anything else."  
* * * *  
"Michiru," Setsuna smiled. Then her smile dimmed. "Something   
troubles you."  
  
"Yes," Michiru admitted. "Can we talk out back? I don't want   
Janus to hear this."  
  
"Certainly," and Setsuna led her to the back yard. "Does this   
involve senshi business?"  
  
"In a way." Michiru hesitated. "I don't know how to tell you   
this without hurting you, so I'm going to come right out and say it.   
Setsuna, I think you should be careful around Janus."  
  
"In what manner?" Setsuna asked, puzzled. Then she hardened.   
"You are suspicious of him."  
  
"I don't want to be," pleaded Michiru. "I want to be happy for   
you. You've been alone so long and now you've finally found someone and   
I don't want to mess that up for you. But we've got a potential crisis   
here - - you know that. You've foreseen it. And he's aroused my   
suspicions. Setsuna, what do you truly know about him?"  
  
"I know I love him. I know he cares for me."  
  
"Does he?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well - - that's one thing in his favor, I guess. But please   
Setsuna, keep your eyes open. Don't let love blind you to the truth if   
it appears. Don't start making excuses for behavior that's otherwise   
suspicious in the name of love. I'm only saying this because I care   
about you. I'm worried about the world, but I'm worried about you,   
too."  
  
"Intellectually, I acknowledge everything you say, Michiru,"   
Setsuna said in a controlled, formal manner. "I even agree with much of   
it. Emotionally, though, I find myself longing for the loyalty of an   
old and dear friend."  
  
"Setsuna, that's not fair," Michiru scowled.  
  
"Life is not fair," Setsuna replied, coldly and emotionlessly.   
"That fact is neither nice nor right nor just, it just is. The sooner   
you accept this as so, the better off all will be."  
  
Michiru winced at her own words, words she'd once hurled at Usagi,   
being hurled back at her. She wanted to say more, but somehow sensed   
that anything more she said would only make things worse. Head bowed,   
she turned and exited the yard.  
  
Setsuna walked up to the house, her mood dour but her emotions in   
control. She closed the door behind her, not hearing it close. Michiru   
had to be wrong. She was wrong for even considering Michiru's absurd   
notions. Janus wasn't trying to plunge the world into a new ice age.   
He was an injured man recuperating in her home. Even if Michiru were   
right, how would he be doing it? Though he was a mystical creature, he   
possessed nothing out of the ordinary except his wings.   
  
And she found herself in the doorway to his room, looking at him.   
After a moment he sensed her presence and looked up.  
  
"Something troubles you," he said, his pale blue eyes a mirror of   
concern.  
  
"My - - comrade, Michiru," Setsuna said haltingly. "She - - what   
abilities do you possess besides flight?"  
  
"A strong back and a keen eye," he replied.  
  
"Nothing along the lines of matter or energy conversion?"  
  
"I know nothing of such things."  
  
"How did you come to this world?" Setsuna asked earnestly.  
  
Without hesitation, Janus put his hand in the loincloth he wore   
and produced a stone. It was pale blue and seemed to shimmer in the low   
light of the room.  
  
"This stone was given to me by the vizier of my people," Janus   
said. "I was to use it should I run across Surts in order to escape   
them. It brought me here, though I know not how. It will also bring me   
back to Knorr - - should I desire it."  
  
"Is there something that holds you here?" Setsuna asked, her voice   
heavy with emotion.  
  
"Yes," he told her, surprised by her question. "It is a thing   
suddenly more important to me than victory over the Surts. It is a   
treasure I did not expect to find that is now more valuable to me than   
anything I might name. And if I could not take her back with me to   
Knorr, I do not believe I would return."   
  
His hand sought her cheek. Upon his touch, she burst into tears.  
  
"Setsuna, my love?" he asked sympathetically.  
  
"Forgive me," Setsuna wept. "I - - Michiru is suspicious of you.   
She tried to convince me of those suspicions and - - and I listened for   
a moment. My head ignored what my heart told it was true. Forgive me."  
  
"Of course," he smiled, caressing her cheek and wiping the tear   
away with his thumb. "Do not blame yourself. I have not told you much   
of my past. There is not much to tell. I ate. I slept. I warred with   
the Surts. There you have my remarkable life. I did not know at the   
time that there was so much more to be had. That one such as I could   
inspire feelings within a remarkable woman such as you."  
  
"Curse Michiru and her suspicious ways," Setsuna murmured.  
  
"Do not blame your friend," Janus told her. "She is a warrior and   
we are a suspicious breed because we must be. You live longer when you   
trust nothing and no one. Were I in her place, I would think the same   
things she thinks."  
  
"How can one so divine as you be real?" Setsuna asked tearfully.  
  
"If you wish proof of my reality," Janus smiled, "you need only   
touch me."  
  
Setsuna leaned in, her hands pressed to his chest.  
  
"I would kiss you now," she whispered.  
  
"I would not resist," he whispered back.  
* * * *  
Haruka noticed Michiru hurriedly close the door and flee into the   
bedroom. Cautiously she was up and to the bedroom door. Her hand   
closed around the handle, she listened and heard weeping inside.  
  
"Michiru?" Haruka softly inquired after opening the door.   
  
Michiru looked up at her in shame, her eyes tear-stained. Haruka   
knew her love was not one to weep at all and even less so in the company   
of another - - not even her. Summoning her tender side from deep within   
her because her life-mate needed it, Haruka came over and placed her   
arms around the woman she loved. Michiru collapsed against Haruka's   
chest.  
  
"Oh, Haruka," Michiru sobbed. "It was awful. That look of   
betrayal in Setsuna's eyes - - oh what I wouldn't give to be normal and   
not have to do this! I'm so sick of being the cold hard senshi!"  
  
"I know," Haruka whispered, rubbing her lover's arms. "Sometimes   
I wish we didn't have a destiny, too."  
  
"And Usagi - - she's so blissfully trusting of everything and   
everyone. Why can't I have her faith? Why can't I just accept things   
at face value? Look at her! She's happy, she's surrounded by friends   
and family who adore her! All I have is . . .!"  
  
"Me," Haruka said.  
  
"Oh, Haruka, I didn't mean it to sound like that!" Michiru gasped   
in horror.  
  
"I know," Haruka smiled gently. "Hey, all I've got is racing, and   
you. Turns out that's all I need."  
  
Michiru's mouth jumped to Haruka's. She crushed her lips to her   
mate's as her arm bent around Haruka's neck. She kissed Haruka long and   
hard, drawing some of the woman's strength to replace her own ebbing   
reservoir. Haruka was only too happy to give. Their lips parted and   
Michiru brushed hers against Haruka's, that little signature of hers   
that Haruka knew so well.  
  
"You done feeling sorry for yourself now?" Haruka gently prodded.  
  
"All done," Michiru smiled sheepishly. "I still hope I'm wrong   
about Janus. I've got a nice big apology for Setsuna all written up in   
my head."  
  
"I hope you're wrong, too. I'd love to hear it. You don't   
apologize nearly enough for my tastes." Michiru peevishly elbowed   
Haruka in the ribs.  
* * * *  
Luna and Artemis scampered through the park. Around the white   
cat's neck was a collar with a miniaturized sensor dish an inch wide   
affixed to it. An earpiece led up to his right ear so he could listen   
to the tracking ping. Luna had on a visor similar to Sailor Mercury's   
that received projected telemetry data from the mainframe computer they   
had established under the Crown Game Center.  
  
"A moment, Artemis!" Luna called out. Artemis stopped and   
whirled.  
  
"Have you got something?" he asked.  
  
"Not on what we're tracking," Luna gasped out between licks of her   
right haunch. She gave the area several more meticulous strokes with   
her tongue. "I'm sorry. I simply HAD to tend to that." She noticed   
Artemis smirking at her. "And none of your smart-aleck remarks, either!   
You know how much I detest matted fur!"  
  
"I'll tell the Ice Age to wait ten minutes," he teased.  
  
"Slovenly beast," she muttered and they were off again.   
  
The signal led them through the park to the pond. Circling the   
pond, they followed the signal for several hundred yards.  
  
"We're getting closer," Artemis said.  
  
"Yes, telemetry readings are indicating strange energy   
fluctuations. And Artemis, have you noticed how much colder it is   
around the pond?"  
  
"Yeah," he grunted. "Take a look at the edge of the pond."  
  
Luna complied. She saw a thin layer of ice edging the pond where   
it met the rocks of the bank.  
  
The two felines continued running until they came to the rowboat   
dock. Artemis stopped just short of the dock. Luna looked to him for   
cues.  
  
"This is it," Artemis proclaimed. "What's the telemetry readings   
of the area? See anything that could be a rift or portal?"  
  
"Yes," Luna replied. "Measuring eight point three meters above   
the end of the dock. The energy output is nearly zero. Dimensions are   
- - ninety-eight centimeters long and two centimeters wide? Hardly big   
enough for a man with the wingspan Janus has to pass through."  
  
"What's the temperature around this rift?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Showing minus 15 degrees centigrade in the immediate vicinity of   
the rift," reported Luna. "Temperature rises approximately ten degrees   
approximately every sixty-six centimeters further from the rift. Energy   
outputs are comparable."  
  
"So it's some sort of - - dimensional hole that's leaking heat   
energy out of our reality and into the other reality," Artemis surmised.   
"The immediate question is how to close it. We can figure out how it   
got here after that."  
  
"Artemis," Luna remarked suddenly. "This is the spot where   
Chibi-Usa would always appear when she came back from the future. Do   
you suppose there's some sort of connection?"  
  
"You're right," frowned Artemis. "I don't know if there is. But   
we'll have to worry about that AFTER we get this closed."  
  
Continued in Chapter 7 


	7. Faint Hearts and Fiery Maids

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 7: "Faint Hearts and Fiery Maids"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Usagi propped herself up on her drawing board. Panel four wasn't   
finished, but she just couldn't summon the strength to finish it. And   
it was already nearly six p.m. Mamoru would be home any minute and she   
hadn't done anything about dinner.  
  
"Oh, well," she smiled to herself. "I guess that gives us an   
excuse to go to The Butterfly Palace again." But the humor quickly   
faded, along with the smile.  
  
"Usako, I'm home," she heard Mamoru call out. In a sudden burst   
of energy, she began to work on the figure in panel four, but the burst   
spent itself in moments. She let out an exhausted sigh.  
  
"Hi, Mamo-chan," she smiled wanly. "How was your day? I'm afraid   
I didn't get around to cooking anything, but I don't think Makoto will   
mind a little bit more of our business." She noticed Mamoru was staring   
at her. "What is it, Mamo-chan?"  
  
"Are you feeling all right, Usako?" he asked.  
  
"I feel fine," she alibied. "I might be a little tired. I've   
been working like a demon to finish this story before deadline." Seeing   
that didn't satisfy him, Usagi's eyes sought her lap. "And maybe I'm a   
little upset, too. Michiru was here earlier."  
  
"Did you two get into a fight?" Mamoru asked, knowing Michiru's   
history of disagreeing with Usagi's ways and her lack of reticence about   
expressing those disagreements - - or worse.  
  
"She thinks Janus is wrong for Setsuna," Usagi confessed. "She   
thinks he may be responsible for the temperature drop around the world."  
  
"Does she have any proof?"  
  
"No! That's the whole thing! She's just suspicious of him! Just   
like she's suspicious of everybody!" Usagi's hand flew to her mouth.   
"Oh, I shouldn't have said that. That was mean. Oh, Mamo-chan, why   
can't she just be happy for Setsuna? You should see her. I've never   
seen Setsuna this happy before, ever!"  
  
Mamoru came over, gently pulled Usagi out of her chair and folded   
his arms around her. She burrowed into her familiar comfort zone, his   
strong chest, and laid her head against it.  
  
"I don't know," he told her. "Maybe it's because of her mission   
on this world. Maybe it's just the way she's wired. I don't think   
she's being intentionally malicious."  
  
"I don't either. But it's still not right. She should be happy   
for Setsuna."  
  
"Well, if she's wrong, it won't be the first time," Mamoru said,   
stroking his wife's hair. "And if somehow she turns out to be right,   
then we'll all be thanking her."  
  
"OK," Usagi said and enjoyed the feel of his arms around her for a   
few moments longer. "Now about dinner?"  
  
"Let me guess," Mamoru smirked. "The Butterfly Palace?"  
  
"It's good food and reasonable rates," Usagi chirped, perking up a   
little.  
  
"How many times a month do we eat there? Do you think I'm made of   
money?"  
  
"Yes," Usagi grinned. "And if you're not, I've still got a big   
chunk of that residual check left, too."  
  
"One of these days I'm going to learn how to say 'no' to you,"   
Mamoru scowled playfully. He knew his surrender was imminent. Usagi   
knew it, too. "OK, let me get changed."  
  
Mamoru walked to the bedroom. There wasn't really any point in   
fighting it. He knew he'd do anything for that smile.  
* * * *  
"Hayami!" Ami called out. "I'm home!"  
  
"Good," Hayami said, coming out of the den. He took his wife in   
his arms like she was fragile china and kissed her respectfully. "I've   
missed you. Plus you've got visitors."  
  
At his wife's curious look, the squat, chunky man moved aside.   
Framed in the doorway were Luna and Artemis.  
  
"Has something happened?" Ami asked, tensing.  
  
"Yes," Artemis said. "We've discovered a breech in reality. It's   
a hole in the fabric of dimensional space that's leaking heat energy   
into a different dimension."  
  
"Causing the global cooling!" gasped Ami. Hayami listened   
intently, too. "Where is it? Did you take readings?"  
  
"It's over the boat dock on the pond in Juuban Park," Luna told   
her. "We believe it may be the same spot that Chibi-Usa used as an   
entry point in her travels from the thirtieth century."  
  
"Chibi-Usa? Who's she?" Hayami asked.  
  
"Usagi's daughter," Ami replied distantly, already making   
calculations and turning over theories in her head.  
  
"Usagi has a daughter?" gaped Hayami.  
  
"It's complicated," Ami grimaced. "This dimensional rip you   
mention - - are you certain it's a rip in a spatial dimension?"  
  
"Ami, I'm not sure of anything at the moment, except where it is   
and what it's doing," Artemis replied.  
  
"Why do you ask?" Luna inquired.  
  
"It's entirely possible that this rip is a fourth dimensional rip,   
particularly if it occupies the space Chibi-Usa always traveled   
through." Ami summoned her henshin stick. A moment later, Sailor   
Mercury stood before them, her senshi computer in hand and her visor on.   
"I assume you took readings?"  
  
"Hey, I'm a professional," Artemis said. He tilted his head to   
the right and she saw a mini-zip in his collar. She reached down and   
took it.  
  
"I'm sorry, Hayami," Mercury said to her husband, suddenly   
remembering his presence. "This is important and I really should look   
at . . ."  
  
"It's all right," he smiled gently. "Sailor Mercury has a job to   
do. Actually, it's kind of exciting to watch you work."  
  
Mercury kissed him on the cheek, then sat down and plugged the   
disk into her computer. Luna perched on the back of the sofa, peering   
over her left shoulder.  
  
"He's such a dear man," Luna whispered to Mercury. "You're quite   
lucky to have him. Certain types could take a lesson," and she glanced   
at Artemis. He only rolled his eyes.  
  
"These dimensions indicate that the rift is closed," Mercury said,   
studying the data flashing on her visor. "But it's not sealed, as   
indicated by the uninterrupted flow of heat energy. Obviously whatever   
came through didn't leave enough energy to keep the rift enlarged and it   
collapsed back onto itself."  
  
"Then something did come through?" Luna asked.  
  
"Obviously," Mercury replied. "Whether it was a probe or a burst   
of energy or something sentient, something made that rift in the first   
place."  
  
"Is there any means to track it if it is sentient?"  
  
"If it left some sort of energy trail or signature. Otherwise,   
no. But you're assumption that this is what's causing the cold snap is   
valid. The trail of heat energy is unmistakable."  
  
"Any way to close it?" Artemis asked.  
  
"That depends upon what type of rift it is. I'll need a more   
detailed analysis of that to know for certain. I'm sorry, but these   
readings just don't give me enough information to reach any definitive   
conclusion."  
  
"Your computer and visor always were more powerful than anything   
we had," Artemis admitted.  
  
"We'll lead you there," Luna told her. "The sooner we get this   
rift sealed, the better it will be for all. This cool weather has gone   
on long enough."  
  
"It's worse than that!" Mercury said with alarm. "If that rift   
widens again, Tokyo's temperature could drop twenty to fifty degrees   
overnight! If it widens permanently, the entire globe could be thrown   
into sub-zero conditions in a matter of days! And prolonged cold   
temperatures will begin to destroy most of the plant life, setting off a   
chain reaction in the ecosystem that could devastate all life!"  
  
Hayami and the cats looked at her, stunned. Mercury allowed   
herself to return to Ami.  
  
"Let's get going, then," Artemis frowned. Luna and Ami began to   
follow him out, but Hayami caught Ami's hand. She turned to him.  
  
"Please be careful," Hayami said. He tried to maintain a brave   
front, but he was clearly worried about the situation and especially   
about her. Ami recalled that this was her first senshi mission since   
their marriage.  
  
"I will," she smiled. "I love you, Hayami."  
  
As Ami closed the door behind her, she silently vowed to herself   
never to go on another senshi mission without telling Hayami that.  
* * * *  
"Well, well, haven't seen you two here in a while," Sanjuro   
smiled, greeting the Chibas as they seated themselves at a table.   
"What's it been, three days? You're slipping, Usagi."  
  
"If that's the attitude you take with a customer, I can always   
take my business elsewhere," Usagi sniffed playfully.  
  
"What are you trying to do, bankrupt the place?" Sanjuro needled.   
Then he grew serious. "Are you feeling all right, Usagi?"  
  
"Just a little tired," she smiled self-consciously. "That's sort   
of why we're here. I was too tired to cook." Then she glanced   
conspiratorially at Sanjuro. "Besides, she does it better than I do,   
anyway."  
  
"I'll tell her you said that, although I'm sure she already knows   
you feel that way." Sanjuro winked at her, then turned to Mamoru.   
"How's it going, Mamoru?"  
  
"Curing the sick and making money hand over fist," he grinned.   
"If it wasn't for those two things, I wouldn't put in the sixty hour   
weeks."  
  
"Yeah? Interested in investing in a restaurant?" Sanjuro asked.   
"We can always use the capitol." He spotted a woman headed for the   
kitchen. "Ah, there's Ritsuko. That means Makoto'll be free for a few   
minutes to chat."  
  
"I don't want to take her away from her duties," Usagi said.   
  
"That's OK," Sanjuro said playfully. "It'll get her off Ritsuko's   
back. Honestly, my girl would be horrified at the thought of losing   
Ritsuko and yet the woman can never seem to cook anything right   
according to her."  
  
He winked and waved as he walked off. Minutes later, Makoto   
appeared, a tray of dishes in hand.  
  
"I saw you come in," Makoto smiled and set the dishes of food down   
in front of Usagi and Mamoru. "I was already fixing up some of this and   
I know you'll eat anything except carrots."  
  
"It smells wonderful," smiled Usagi.  
  
"Are you all right?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" demanded Usagi.  
  
"Because we like you, hon', and we worry about you when you don't   
look OK. And right now you look like you just came back from a hike up   
Mt. Fuji."  
  
"I'm just overworked," Usagi said, taking a piece of fish from the   
bowl. "How are the kids?"  
  
"Would you believe I got a call from the daycare center about a   
fight?" gasped Makoto.  
  
"Well, unfortunately getting into fights is a part of growing up,"   
Mamoru said. "Did they say what Ichiro was fighting about?"  
  
"It was Akiko that got into the fight!" Makoto said. "It's her   
third one in two months!" Usagi giggled in mid-bite.  
  
"Well, I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree," she   
laughed.  
  
"Well I'll tell you one thing," Makoto said, dead serious. "That   
girl is going to grow up to be a lady if it kills us both. I'm not   
going to let her go through what I went through." Usagi reached over   
and patted Makoto's hand, but she couldn't keep from laughing just the   
same.  
* * * *  
Dressed in her black wig and dark glasses, Minako strolled the   
streets of Tokyo. She seemed to be just another pretty woman walking   
aimlessly. Actually she was taking everything in, observing and   
sifting, searching for anything unusual.  
  
Her stroll took her back to the park. It was the fourth time   
she'd worked her way back to the park. She'd searched it twice and   
pronounced it clean, but something was nagging at her sixth sense, that   
same sixth sense that had served her since her days as Sailor V.   
  
"Well, I guess a third stroll isn't going to do me any harm,"   
Minako mused.   
  
The park was nearly deserted. It actually seemed cooler here than   
in the rest of the city. Minako pulled her hands up into the long   
sleeves of her blouse and wrapped her arms around her body. It had to   
be in the high forties in the park.  
  
Which made the woman resting next to the tree stand out all the   
more, since she was wearing nothing more than a mid-thigh white skirt.   
She had long flowing black hair, as long as Rei's or her own, but wavy   
and untamed. As Minako neared her, she could see the woman's complexion   
was tanned like rich cappucchino. She had a comely figure, but one thin   
and wiry like an athlete or someone used to physical stress.  
  
"Hi," Minako chirped sweetly, turning on the charm.  
  
The woman pivoted suddenly, facing Minako with her left arm thrown   
up as a ward and her right hand trailing behind her, reaching for a   
weapon if she already didn't have one.   
  
"Whoa!" gasped Minako, throwing up her spread hands. "Me come in   
peace! Fingers I got!" The woman, an exotic beauty with gold eyes,   
stared at her in confusion. "You speak Japanese, maybe? How about   
English? The only Chinese I know is Kung-Pow Chicken."  
  
"More," the woman said, staring intently at Minako, or more   
accurately her mouth.  
  
"OK. Um, curry rice? Tokyo Lotte Orions? Buy my new CD?"  
  
"Perhaps that will be enough," the woman said. "I have absorbed a   
working knowledge of your language from your speech. It will help me   
muchly to communicate."  
  
"Oh yeah," snickered Minako. "You did a muchly great job there."   
Forcing herself to become serious, Minako looked the woman over. "This   
is a guess, but you're not from around here, right? You got a name?   
I'm Minako."  
  
"I am Candes," she said.   
  
"I knew a Candice, once, in England," grinned Minako.  
  
"I am," Candes began, looking at Minako strangely, "not from   
Eng-Land. I am from a mystic land known as Knorr."  
  
"Get out!" Minako goggled. "I met another one of you Knorrites   
- - um, Knorrish? - - whatever, just the other day! He's a pretty cool   
look, too, if you're into the Greek God type. Maybe you know him? His   
name's Janus."  
  
The woman's eyes bulged. "You are allied with Janus?" she hissed.  
  
Instantly the woman turned and sprinted off. Her lanky frame   
proved very quick, for she got a lead on Minako very early on, despite   
the girl's best attempt to pursue. Any vestige of "Daffy Minako" was   
gone, replaced by a grim business-like determination. As she ran,   
Minako produced her henshin stick.  
  
Before she could use it, though, her quarry twisted in mid-stride   
and pointed with outstretched hands. A fireball launched from them and   
barreled straight for Minako. She dived to the ground and the fireball   
struck a seventy-year-old oak, turning the majestic tree into an   
incandescent torch.   
  
"So we're playing for keeps, is it?" Minako murmured, the light of   
the challenge dancing in her eyes.  
  
Candes kept sprinting through the park. She took a moment to   
glanced back behind her to see if Minako still pursued her. She saw   
nothing, but that didn't halt her. Though she felt uncomfortable   
running blindly through unfamiliar terrain, a sense told her not to   
underestimate this "Minako", despite her pretense of immaturity.  
  
"Exploding Golden Kiss!" echoed through the park. It was just   
enough warning to allow Candes to evade an energy burst that exploded at   
her feet.   
  
There was no time to rest though, as another burst over her head,   
knocking the bark from a tree. Candes bolted forward, followed by   
tracing fire as energy bursts exploded at her feet, inches from striking   
her. She pivoted, changing direction when she feared her assailant was   
getting her range, and avoided another volley. When she felt she was   
being measured again, Candes suddenly swerved right.  
  
But this time her evasion had been anticipated. A burst of golden   
energy exploded into her about chest high. Candes was bowled off her   
feet and hurled several yards away. She landed in a glade between an   
oak and a picnic table, impacted hard with the ground, ground that was   
hardened by the cooler temperatures in the park. Her head struck the   
ground and she sagged into unconsciousness. Moments later, Sailor Venus   
walked up.  
  
"Damn, hit her too hard," Venus scowled. "One of these days I'm   
going to get a handle on this attack." She stooped down and hoisted the   
strange woman over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Well, they grow   
them light in your parts, honey," Venus said as she carried the fallen   
woman away.  
* * * *  
In another part of the very same park, Sailor Mercury was hard at   
work. She would stare at the sky with her visor, then look down and key   
commands into her computer. Off to one side, Luna and Artemis stared up   
at her.  
  
"What do you think?" Artemis asked.  
  
"The rift is practically closed now," Mercury replied, studying   
her readouts. "All we really need is something to seal it. I doubt   
Usagi would have much of a problem sealing it with the Silver Crystal."  
  
"That's a relief," Luna sighed.   
  
"The question that's bothering me now is who or what opened it,"   
Mercury continued.  
  
"Find something?"  
  
Mercury looked up. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were walking   
up to them. Uranus seemed bland about things, but Neptune had a very   
intent stare.  
  
"We sensed an intruder in the park," Neptune replied, noticing   
Mercury's curious look. "Someone or something not of this world. We   
were investigating when we spotted you three." Neptune paused a beat.   
"So what did you find?"  
  
"There's a dimensional rift above the pond," Mercury reported.   
"It's drawing heat energy out of the atmosphere. That's causing the   
temperature drop."  
  
"A dimensional rift," Neptune said, studying the area Mercury   
pointed to as if she was trying to see it. "Good work, Mercury."  
  
"Yeah, now we know how he got here," Uranus commented.   
  
"He?" Mercury asked. "Have you discovered who came through the   
rift?"  
  
"Neptune believes Janus is responsible for this," Luna scowled.  
  
"Yeah, and now we've got one more piece of the puzzle," Uranus   
replied, defending her love. "The portal he used to travel from his   
mystical dimension of Knorr to Earth."  
  
"No, but you're wrong!" gasped Mercury. "This rift isn't spatial!   
It's temporal!"  
  
"Temporal?" gasped Neptune, truly surprised. Artemis also looked   
on in amazement.  
  
"Yes," Mercury reiterated. "Whoever or whatever caused this isn't   
from a dimension existing concurrent to ours! It's from the future!"  
  
continued in chapter 8 


	8. A Matter Of Time

THE COMING ICE AGE.  
Chapter 8: "A Matter Of Time"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Setsuna looked on with unconcealed concern as Janus haltingly   
stepped through the door and out into the garden behind her home. His   
fine sinewy body was as taut as a weighted rope, ready to catch himself   
should his injured hip falter. She lingered near him, ready to catch   
him as well.  
  
"Are you certain of this?" she asked. "You do not look strong   
enough to support your weight for a prolonged period."  
  
"It does me no good to lay in your bed for weeks upon end," Janus   
said. He was clearly in pain, but he forced himself on. There was a   
stiffness to his gait, but not as much as she expected.   
  
"I do not mind," Setsuna said softly. He must have heard, because   
he turned to her and smiled warmly.  
  
"Nor do I, when you are by my side. But I must prove my fitness   
to be your beloved. Otherwise you will grow weary and contemptuous and   
throw me over for the first hale and handsome male you see."  
  
"How little you know of me," Setsuna responded, realizing he was   
teasing her.  
  
"I would be very grateful to learn," he said, capturing her hand   
and putting it to his lips.  
  
Janus walked out into the garden, his stiff gait the only blemish   
on his otherwise perfect form. Though it was now in the high forties,   
the temperature didn't seem to bother him. He walked barefoot and   
nearly naked out into the flowers and stretched out his massive wings.  
  
"Please do not attempt too much," Setsuna warned him.  
  
"Relax, precious one," he cautioned her. "I have faced far worse   
than this in my life. And my wings are not injured. If anything, they   
are stiff from disuse."  
  
The wings spread out and cupped to catch the air. With a powerful   
thrust, they pulled Janus up into the air. He instantly commanded the   
sky above her home. Setsuna felt something inside of her tighten with   
desire. She watched how gracefully he moved in the air, demonstrating   
ability that was completely breathtaking. And she noticed the joy in   
his face as he soared through the skies. Night was approaching and his   
light coloring and white wings stood out against the indigo of the   
skies. He looped one more time, then angled down and landed near her   
with the power of an eagle and the grace of a dancer. Setsuna felt her   
heart skip.  
  
"It has been too long since I flew," Janus gasped. He seemed to   
glow with excitement. "Too long imprisoned upon the ground." He   
noticed Setsuna look down with chagrin. "My only solace was the   
beautiful healer my captivity afforded me." Setsuna flashed him a   
cynical grin.  
  
"How does your hip feel?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"To the pits with my hip!" he grinned, intoxicated by his   
reclaimed freedom. "I have tasted the skies again!"  
  
"Care and moderation, Janus," Setsuna smiled gently. "Do not fly   
too far too fast, lest you come crashing back to earth in flames."  
  
He smiled, as if the words were familiar to him. "You are wise,   
my love, and only seek my health and safety. I shall heed your words."   
Then inspiration struck. "But only if you join me in one last flight   
tonight!"  
  
"Janus, are you strong enough?"   
  
In answer, he seized Setsuna by her waist and pulled her to his   
masculine body.  
  
"Judge for yourself," he smiled.  
  
Setsuna found her arms snaking around his neck. "You are quite   
convincing. I find - - little of fault here."  
  
Grinning, Janus flexed his wings and launched them up into the   
air. Startled, Setsuna clutched him tightly around the neck.  
  
"Fear not, my love," he whispered into her ear. "I have you and I   
will not let go."  
  
Setsuna laid her head on his shoulder and peered down at the   
world. The ground whirled below her, then her perspective twisted as he   
banked sharply. First sky then ground then the horizon passed across   
her field of vision in a dizzying display. Setsuna clung to Janus,   
slightly fearful, but also exhilarated by the sights and sounds around   
her and by the feel of the body next to her. He straightened out, and   
she twisted her head to see. Below them was the neighborhood, smaller   
and less confining. The wind whistled across her face and her long   
green hair trailed behind them, whipping and whirling in the rush of   
air.  
  
Lazily he banked, then swooped down to the ground. With time to   
spare, he pulled up and landed softly. Even after her feet touched the   
Earth again, Setsuna didn't let go.  
  
"Was that not impressive, my love?" he asked.  
  
Setsuna looked into his eyes and the only response she could come   
up with was to kiss him. So she did, jamming her lips to his as she   
molded her tall frame to his muscular body. Though startled at first by   
her response, Janus quickly warmed up to the idea and returned it with   
his own passion.   
  
Shrouded by the night, Setsuna and Janus continued to kiss amid   
the flowers of her garden.  
* * * *  
Rei Hino had seen many things over the course of her thirty-three   
years on the planet. Sailor Venus carrying what looked like a woman   
over her shoulder was not one of them. She stood at the top step of   
Hikawa Shrine and stared.  
  
"A woman over your shoulder? Is that the latest fashion trend?"   
Rei asked.  
  
"Not even close," Venus replied. "Help me get her inside, huh?"  
  
"Who is she?"  
  
"Candice something. You'll never guess where she's from, either."  
  
Rei waited, but got no response.  
  
"Well?" demanded Rei.  
  
"You're not going to guess?" Minako asked. Rei glared at her.   
"She's from Knorr."  
  
"That's the place Janus is from!"  
  
"I know. Weird thing is, when I dropped that little nugget on   
her, she totally freaked on me. Started running, and when I chased her   
she threw a fireball at me."  
  
"Really! So why bring her here?"  
  
"Well, I could have dropped her in Makoto's restaurant, but that   
would have scared all her customers away."  
  
"So you'd rather scare my customers away?" Rei asked.  
  
"What customers?" Venus retorted, looking around at the deserted   
grounds of Hikawa.  
  
"Smart ass," grunted Rei. Venus smirked.  
  
Rei and Venus carried the unconscious being into a room in the   
shrine and laid her down on a futon. Rei looked her over.  
  
"What happened to her?" Rei asked.  
  
"I hit her with too hard of an energy burst," Venus said.  
  
"You've got to learn to control that," Rei said. Venus stuck out   
her tongue.  
  
"So can you read anything from her?"  
  
"Not while she's unconscious. And these folks from Knorr are   
tough to read. We'll have to wait until she wakes up, and even then I   
can't promise anything."  
  
"'kay," Venus said. She sat down near the futon. "Usagi tells me   
you were singing at The Green Room. Wish I could have been there, but I   
was on tour."  
  
"Maybe next time," Rei said, studying the mystery woman.  
  
"So are you finally going to let me record 'Moonlight and   
Heaven'?"  
  
"Are you going to do it right?" Rei eyed her.  
  
"I'm a pop singer, Rei! Ballads make my producer break out!"  
  
"Then the answer's still no."  
  
"But we could use it on the soundtrack of the movie I'm set to   
film!" Rei was unmoved. "Come on, Rei! It's a beautiful song! I   
could turn it into a number one hit!"  
  
"By rearranging it into some techno-rock dance mix fluff? No.   
You record it as I wrote it or you don't record it. And if your   
producer and those movie folks don't like that, they can all kiss this   
little Japanese girl's . . .!"  
  
"Whoa, don't even go there!" grimaced Venus. "Some of those movie   
producers would not only kiss it, they'd start doing things I don't even   
like thinking about to get their way." Both women made faces at the   
thought. "I'd love to do it as a ballad, Rei. I could do it in a way   
that'd have half of Japan crying. But if you let us do the song his way   
and it hits like we all think it will, it'll be a foot in the door for   
you."  
  
"Not in a million years," Rei replied.  
  
"Rei, if you have a track record, even if it's only one song, five   
times more agents and producers will look at you than if you don't. Why   
do you think I prostituted my talent on crappy shows like 'Angel High'?   
Because it was something to put on the resume. Something that told   
producers and agents 'she's got experience'."  
  
"I'm not going to compromise my artistic vision for a check or a   
credit," Rei scowled.  
  
Venus smiled. "I guess that's where we're different. To you it's   
the creation; to me, the important thing is seeing all those happy   
faces, all that excitement dancing in their eyes. How's not important.   
I'd sing them the alphabet it if entertained them. I'm not an 'artist'   
like you. I'm an entertainer. If it makes them happy, that's enough   
for me."  
  
"There's nothing unworthy about that, I guess," Rei said   
contritely. "And I have to admit you are good at it." Then her eyes   
narrowed as she smirked. "You're still not getting the song."  
  
"Honestly, you are so stubborn!" howled Venus. "That was one of   
my best performances!"  
  
"Didn't move me a bit," Rei jabbed, realizing she was kidding.  
  
"Not even a little?" wheedled Venus.  
  
"Well," Rei grinned, "maybe just a teeny little bit." Venus   
smiled proudly.  
  
The two sat back and waited for their guest to wake up. After   
about a minute, Venus began fidgeting.  
  
"You still collect manga, don't you?" Venus asked Rei hopefully,   
facing the prospect of actually having to sit still with unconcealed   
dread.  
  
"The latest issue of 'Shoujo Jump' is in the next room," Rei   
sighed in exasperation.  
  
"OH BOY! 'FIRE PRINCESS RIKA'!" Venus gasped and scampered into   
the next room. Rei watched her go with disgust.  
  
No sooner had Venus returned, then there was a knock at the door.   
Rei got up to answer it and found more guests at her doorstep.  
  
"Mercury!" Rei gasped. She noticed Uranus and Neptune behind   
Mercury. Luna and Artemis zipped in through the door uninvited. "Is   
something up?"  
  
"I've discovered why the temperature is dropping," Mercury said.   
"There's a temporal portal over the pond in Juuban Park. It's leaking   
heat energy into another dimensional plane, probably a future era.   
Something may have come through to our side, too. Uranus and Neptune   
were tracking someone when they met up with me."  
  
"Funny you should bring that up," Rei frowned, then waived them   
in.  
  
"Venus, put that manga down! We've got trouble!" they heard   
Artemis shout.  
  
"All right! You don't have to yell!" they heard Venus exclaim.  
  
"Mercury, come look at this!" Luna called to them. Uranus got to   
the door first.  
  
"Neptune, look at this!" she said intently.  
  
"That may be who we've been looking for!" Neptune replied. "Where   
did she come from?"  
  
"She claims to be from Knorr," Venus told them. "I found her   
wandering around the park. We - - sort of had a disagreement. Be   
careful of her when she wakes up. She can toss fireballs."  
  
"Knorr, hmm," Mercury murmured, scanning the woman with her   
computer and visor. "Interesting. Her scans don't match the ones I   
took of Janus."  
  
"Which means she's lying?" Neptune asked.  
  
"Or he is," Uranus added.  
  
"It's more probable that she's a different race," Mercury told   
them. "Evolutionary divisions and branches would easily account for the   
differences." Mercury turned to Rei. "She is a mystical being, isn't   
she?"  
  
"Oh, yeah," nodded Rei. "That much is clear."  
  
"It'll be interesting to see what she has to say when she wakes   
up," Neptune said, giving the unconscious woman a critical eye.   
  
"I've already found out she knows Janus," reported Venus. "All I   
had to do was mention his name and she started spitting fireballs."  
  
"Really," Neptune replied, studying the woman even harder.  
  
"Rei, could you or Venus call Usagi?" Mercury asked, distracted by   
the analysis flashing on her computer screen. "That rift needs to be   
sealed and she's the only one with the power to do it."  
  
"I'm on it," Rei replied.  
  
At that moment, Candes began to stir. She opened her eyes and saw   
four Sailor Senshi surrounding her futon. Her hand went up to try to   
form a fireball.  
  
"Don't!" snapped Neptune. "I can snuff it out before you can get   
it away! Now we don't want to hurt you unless you force us. All we   
want is some answers."  
  
Candes glared at Neptune. Her eyes moved to Uranus and saw she'd   
back Neptune to the hilt. She saw Venus and knew what she could do.   
Slowly Candes lowered her hand.  
  
"You are my enemies," she whispered. "I will tell you nothing."  
* * * *  
"You're sure you're all right?" Makoto asked Usagi.  
  
Makoto had taken a few minutes off to walk Usagi and Mamoru out to   
their car. Usagi carried the bag containing remnants of the meal that   
Makoto insisted she take - - not that she had to insist very hard.  
  
"I'm married to a wonderful man, I have a successful manga,   
wonderful friends, and I just ate the best meal in all of Japan!" Usagi   
replied. "Why wouldn't I be all right?"  
  
"I don't know," shrugged Makoto. "You just look a little pale is   
all."  
  
"Usako, give me your wrist," Mamoru said.  
  
"Why?" Usagi replied coyly. "There are other parts of me that are   
much more sexier."  
  
"Humor me. I'm a wrist man."  
  
"Would you two stop fussing about me! I'm fine! I'm just tired!"  
  
"And you'd tell us if anything were wrong, of course," Makoto eyed   
her warily.  
  
"Me? I'm the biggest whiner on the planet! Ask Rei."  
  
"OK, hon'," Makoto said. "Sorry if I got on your nerves there.   
I'm just doing my job, you know - - protect the Princess."  
  
"Like I said," smiled Usagi, hugging her larger friend, "how lucky   
can a girl get?"  
  
"I'd still like that wrist, if you don't mind," Mamoru persisted.  
  
"You're just looking for a way to take unfair advantage - -," and   
Usagi stopped in mid-sentence, the senshi communicator calling to her.   
"I wonder what this is," she mused, rummaging through her purse.  
  
"It must not be a general alert," Makoto said. "Mine didn't go   
off."  
  
"Usagi here. Hi, Rei!" Usagi said into the communicator. "You   
did? She did? Really?"  
  
"Looks like good news." Makoto noticed Mamoru still staring.   
"You're still worried. Do you sense something?"  
  
"She keeps telling me she's fine," Mamoru said, watching Usagi as   
she talked to Rei, "and yet I get the impression she's not. It's   
nothing concrete. Maybe she's hiding it. Maybe she's not even aware of   
it." He shook his head and scowled. "Maybe I've just lost it."  
  
"Did you want to check her pulse or something?" Makoto asked.   
Mamoru nodded. "Well, keep at it. Better safe than sorry." Makoto   
grinned. "Say the word and I'll sit on her for you."  
  
Mamoru and Makoto turned to the sound of the communicator   
clattering onto the asphalt pavement. They saw Usagi sink to her knees,   
her face stricken with pain. Mamoru was to her side in a moment, just   
in time to see her puke Makoto's wonderful dinner all over the pavement.  
  
"Usako, what is it?" he demanded frantically. Usagi was trembling   
in his arms, retching as if she needed to vomit again. Mamoru leaned   
them forward, his left arm across her ribs for support while his right   
hand cupped across her forehead to hold her head in place.  
  
"Mamoru, what's wrong with her?" Makoto screeched.  
  
"Skin clammy," Mamoru noted to himself. "Tremors, vomiting - -   
Usako, do you hurt anywhere?"  
  
Unable to force herself to speak, Usagi nodded.  
  
"Where? Point if you can't tell me!"  
  
"S-Stomach!" Usagi gasped out. Then she heaved what was left of   
her four p.m. snack.  
  
"Mamoru, is that blood?" wailed Makoto.  
  
He studied the remains on the asphalt for a moment, then acted.   
Scooping Usagi up in his arms, Mamoru ripped open the passenger side   
door and set Usagi in. Nearly leaping over the hood, he arrived at the   
driver's side door and pulled it open.  
  
"Mamoru, what's going on? What's wrong with her?" Makoto   
demanded.  
  
Intent on the love of his life, Mamoru ignored Makoto and slammed   
the door shut. Gunning the engine, he tore out of the parking space and   
into traffic. His tires squealed as he barely negotiated the turns.   
The scent of burned rubber lingered in the lot. Makoto didn't notice.   
She turned and raced back to the restaurant.  
  
"SAN-SAN!" she screamed. Sanjuro was already outside, coming to   
see what the squealing noises were.  
  
"Babe, what's wrong?" he asked, instantly alarmed by his wife's   
mood.  
  
"It's Usagi! Something's wrong with Usagi!" Makoto said, lurching   
to a stop and clutching her husband by his arms. "You've got to take   
care of the place! I've got to go! I've got to be there for her!"  
  
"Go," he said. "I understand." Then he put his hand to her   
cheek. Her tears trickled down against it, then diverted along the   
hand. "She'll be all right, Babe. Believe that."  
  
Makoto kissed his palm gratefully, then tore away and headed for   
the street.  
* * * *  
"Chatty type, isn't she?" Uranus said. Her eyes never left   
Candes.  
  
"She might be a little less reluctant to speak if you weren't so   
menacing looking," Mercury chided. She leaned in toward Candes. "We're   
just trying to find out what's happening. Please, we mean you no harm."  
  
Candes glared at her, disbelief etched in her expression.  
  
They all heard the slap of slippers on the floor. Turning, the   
senshi saw Rei race through the room at breakneck speed.  
  
"Rei, did you talk to . . ." Mercury began. "Rei, what is it?"  
  
"OH, CRAP!" gasped Venus. "That's her 'Usagi's in danger' look!"  
  
continued in Chapter 9 


	9. The Fallen Angel

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 9: "The Fallen Angel"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Usagi was dimly aware of the oxygen mask being strapped to her   
face. She was dizzy, barely conscious, with a tremendous feeling that   
if she could only vomit one more time, everything would be all right.   
But she was too weak to vomit and she didn't think she had anything   
left.  
  
Her eyes scanned the crowd of people around her, looking for a   
familiar face. Everyone was dressed like a medical professional in   
hospital scrubs. She didn't recognize them; they weren't the particular   
medical professional she wanted. Then her eyes locked on Mamoru.   
Summoning all her strength, she reached out a hand toward him. He took   
it and it seemed to revitalize her just a little.   
  
"You're going to be all right, Usako," he said. Usagi smiled   
wanly and vowed to make it so, for his sake as much as her own.  
  
She just couldn't stand the idea of being in heaven, looking down   
on him and seeing him alone again.  
  
Since he was a doctor, Mamoru was permitted to watch from the side   
as the emergency room personnel worked on Usagi. He could see it was   
touch and go. They were working to get her stabilized until the blood   
work could come back. Only then could they discover if indeed she'd   
been poisoned as Mamoru and the ER doctor feared, and by what. Only   
then could they cure her, if it wasn't too late.  
  
Mamoru sagged back against the wall. All evening she'd sworn she   
was fine. "Just tired," she'd said. Maybe she hadn't known the   
severity of her condition. Most likely she'd been concealing it so as   
not to worry him. One of these days he was going to have to break her   
of that habit - - not that he wasn't just as guilty of it over the   
years. Well, things would be different, he vowed.  
  
"Just get well, Usako," he whispered.  
  
Ami, Rei and Minako arrived at the emergency room to find Makoto   
tangling with three hospital security guards. The guards had her   
restrained, but just barely. Makoto had already inflicted several   
bruises on them and herself and was making them pay dearly for   
restraining her.  
  
"Hey, let go of her!" barked Minako, running up to them. One   
guard broke away to intercept her. That let Makoto pull an arm free and   
she lunged for the door. The struggle erupted again. Makoto shouted   
angry curses while Minako and the guard sparred, looking for advantage.  
  
"EVERYBODY STOP!" they all heard someone shriek. When they looked   
around, they found it had been Ami. "This is a hospital!" she roared,   
to her friends as much as the others. "There are sick people here!   
Please have some respect for them!"  
  
Makoto instantly stopped struggling. She and the others looked at   
Ami in amazement. Ami went up to Makoto.  
  
"They won't let me in!" Makoto said desperately. "I have to be   
there! You didn't see her! She's really sick!"  
  
"They can't let you in," Ami said gently. "You're not a doctor.   
You'd only get in the way." Makoto grimaced. "I'll go in. I'll make   
sure she gets the best care. All right?"  
  
Makoto nodded in defeat. Rei and Minako led her to a sofa. Ami   
turned to the admitting desk.  
  
"I'm Dr. Ami Fujihara," she said. "I'm a resident here. Which   
room is Usagi Chiba in?"  
  
"Um," the admitting clerk replied, quite stunned by everything,   
"they took her into Exam #1." Ami entered the room.  
  
She found Usagi being worked on by a doctor and a nurse. A look   
at her vital signs told Ami she was stable, but just barely. Mamoru   
watched from the side. She went to him.  
  
"What is it?" Ami asked.  
  
"She's been poisoned," Mamoru replied. "The blood work confirmed   
it."  
  
"What kind?"  
  
"They can't identify it. It acts like an irritant type, but it   
doesn't conform to any known type of irritant toxin."  
  
"Was there anything she came in contact with?"  
  
"I don't know. It wasn't dinner. I ate the same thing she had.   
Unless it was when she was at home drawing, I don't have a clue. She's   
been kind of tired and pale all day." Mamoru clenched his fists. "I   
sensed something was wrong. I saw all the warning signs and I let her   
talk me out of checking her!"  
  
Ami put her hand on his shoulder. "You know how hard she is to   
argue with sometimes. Don't blame yourself." Ami glanced at the vital   
signs monitor again. "We've got to identify that toxin. I'm not sure   
how much longer she has."  
  
Ami's henshin stick was out in a second. The two ER staffers   
heard her transformation phrase and looked up. Standing in the room was   
Sailor Mercury.  
  
"Uh," the stunned nurse began, "you can't come . . ."  
  
"It's all right," Mamoru said with authority and she backed down.  
  
Mercury had her computer out and was scanning Usagi. She frowned   
at the readouts it gave her. Mamoru peered over her shoulder, trying to   
make sense of it.  
  
"It's not of this world," Mercury announced. "One of the chemical   
components does not exist on Earth. It's an unknown isotope of mercury.   
The compounds are encased in microscopic manganese pellets that dose the   
victim a little at a time." She turned to Mamoru. "This has been   
building in her system for two or three days!"  
  
"Then it was deliberate. Is there an antidote?" Mamoru asked.   
"British anti-lewisite, maybe?"  
  
"Um," Mercury hesitated, punching out a formula on her computer.   
"Yes, BAL should work, but it's going to have to be modified to work on   
the mercury isotope." She thought for a moment, making calculations in   
her head, then began pecking at her computer again. "If I can have   
access to a radiology lab, I think I can modify a dose of BAL to help   
her. Is there a lab I can use?"  
  
The nurse and Mamoru looked to the attending doctor. He froze for   
a moment, unsure how to respond, then nodded.   
  
"Come with me," the nurse said, heading for the door. "I'll get   
you one of the labs in radiology."  
  
"Just call ahead," Mercury said, hurrying out the door. "I know   
the way."  
  
Rei and Minako would alternately glance at Makoto and at each   
other. They were worried. Makoto, however, was on the verge of   
hysteria.  
  
"Come on, Makoto," Rei said, grasping the woman's knee. "Keep it   
together. We're all worried, but . . ."  
  
"I wish I knew what happened," Makoto whispered fearfully.   
"Nobody'll tell me anything. If this happened from something she ate at   
my place . . .!"  
  
"Don't talk stupid," Minako told her forcefully.  
  
"Minako, you didn't see her heaving her guts up in the street! If   
it turns out to be my fault . . .!"  
  
"It-it's got to be something else," Minako replied.  
  
"Minako's right," Rei said. "Food poisoning couldn't make her   
have as violent a reaction as what you describe - - could it?" She   
glanced at Minako for support.  
  
"I don't know," Minako shrugged. "Ami's the doctor."  
  
"Could someone have targeted her?" Rei asked. "With all the stuff   
going on recently, it's something to think about. Maybe we've got an   
enemy that wanted her out of the way. Maybe they found out she was   
Sailor Moon."  
  
"Yeah, and maybe that someone's our little guest at the shrine,"   
Minako said, eyes narrowing.  
  
"Guest?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Another visitor from Knorr," Minako told her. "A real charmer,   
too. Tried to give me an all-over sunburn."  
  
"If I find out she did this to Usagi," Makoto glared, her lips   
thin.  
  
"Yeah, well if she did, you'll have to get in line," Rei told her.  
  
"I wish they'd tell us what's happening," Minako murmured. "The   
waiting's always the hardest part." The blonde brightened for a moment.   
"Hey, I could use that in a song!"  
  
"It's been done," Rei and Makoto said in unison.  
  
"Figures," grumbled Minako, sinking back into her seat.  
* * * *  
Candes sat on the futon, glaring at Sailor Uranus with as much   
contempt as she could muster. Uranus glared back. Her posture was   
relaxed and unconcerned, but Candes got the impression that any sudden   
move on her part would bring an attack.  
  
The woman's gold eyes shifted to Sailor Neptune. She had a hand   
mirror out and seemed to be staring intently at her own reflection,   
though Candes couldn't be sure. It struck the woman as odd behavior,   
but these two were odd. The one with yellow hair was a woman, yet she   
acted like a man.  
  
"Aren't you cold running around like that?" Uranus asked.  
  
Candes looked at her inquiringly. Uranus nodded to the   
outworlder's bare breasts. Neptune could be heard struggling not to   
laugh in the background. Candes glared at Uranus and her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Think you that this is cold?" Candes replied venomously. "It   
shall get a lot colder."  
  
"And just how would you know about that?" Uranus said gruffly.   
"Just what do you know about the temperature going down? And about that   
temporal portal over the lake?"  
  
"I know of no such things," Candes replied sullenly.  
  
"And I know a liar when I see one," challenged Uranus. She saw   
the captive's eyes flare, but the woman did nothing to Uranus. "What's   
going on? You know something."  
  
Her reply was an icy stare.  
  
Frustrated, Uranus turned to Neptune. She inquired silently and   
Neptune replied with a shake of her head. The Deep Aqua Mirror was   
revealing nothing about the prisoner that they could use.  
  
"So what's the deal between you and Janus?" Uranus asked Candes.   
"Are you ex-lovers or something?"  
  
"I would sooner mate with the great serpent!" spat Candes.  
  
"Not your type? Hey, I can relate. So what is it?" Candes   
refused to answer. Uranus persisted. "Hey, we're not exactly fans of   
him, either. Is there something about him we should know?"  
  
"We're just looking for the truth," Neptune added. Candes noted   
her piercing gaze, a gaze that again seemed to dissect her.  
  
"You wish the truth?" snapped Candes, her flowing black hair   
framing her face so that her blazing eyes seemed to glow. "Your world   
is doomed to Ragnarok! And it is your own doing!"  
  
Noticing with a sixth sense born of intimacy that Neptune's mood   
had changed, Uranus glanced at her. She saw her lover staring down at   
nothing in particular, almost in shock. She started to inquire about   
what troubled her so much.  
  
Then a movement out of the corner of her eye caught the attention   
of Sailor Uranus. Candes was forming a fireball in her hand. The   
heated winds from the fireball seemed to billow her long black mane out   
behind her.  
  
"Deep Submerge!" bellowed Sailor Neptune.   
  
At once, Candes was engulfed in a smothering wave of water. When   
the wave passed, the woman was on the floor, sopping wet and battered   
unconscious.  
  
"I warned her," Neptune sighed in frustration.  
  
"What's got you bugged?" Uranus asked.  
  
"What she said. 'Our world is doomed to Ragnarok?' And that it's   
our own doing?"  
  
"So what's Ragnarok?" Uranus asked.  
  
"It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it," Neptune said,   
searching her memory. "Unfortunately we won't be getting anything out   
of her for a while. I guess we'll just have to research this on our   
own. Maybe I can ask Setsuna, assuming she's still speaking to me."  
  
"I wish we could find out about what happened to Usagi," Uranus   
said. "You suppose all this is related? It's too much of a coincidence   
not to be."  
  
"There's nothing concrete to link all this up yet," Neptune said,   
opening her cell phone to dial Setsuna's number. "But it wouldn't   
surprise me one bit."  
  
Setsuna answered the phone on the third ring. When she heard   
Neptune on the other end, she tensed involuntarily.  
  
"How may I help you?" Setsuna asked neutrally.  
  
Neptune began to tell her about Candes, but instantly began   
mentally editing.   
  
"Setsuna," Neptune began cautiously, "Do you recall anything about   
a name: Ragnarok? It sounds familiar to me, but I can't place it."  
  
"Ragnarok is an infamous event in Norse and Scandinavian   
Mythology," Setsuna began. "According to the mythology, the realm of   
the gods will be attacked by giants and demons. The sun will be   
darkened. The stars will vanish. The Earth will either sink into the   
sea or be consumed by," and Setsuna paused, "by ice. And the gods of   
Norse Mythology will all die heroic deaths."  
  
"That's right," whispered Neptune.  
  
"Just as my vision foretold," Setsuna said absently. "Where did   
you learn of this?"  
  
Neptune hesitated.  
  
"Or do you not wish to tell me, for fear that I will tell Janus?"   
Setsuna asked.  
  
"I'm just being careful," Neptune told her. "I'm sorry if that   
offends you, but there's too much at stake here. You'll - - just have   
to be offended."  
  
"We all must make decisions we think are best," Setsuna replied.   
"And we must all live with the consequences of those decisions."  
  
"I'm willing to do that," Neptune replied. "By the way, Setsuna,   
the inners went tearing out of here a little bit ago. Something may be   
wrong with Usagi."  
  
Setsuna gasped over the phone.  
  
"I don't know what," Neptune continued, "and I don't have any way   
to find out at the moment. I knew you'd want to know, though. If you   
can find anything out, and if you choose, I'd appreciate it if you'd   
fill me in."  
  
"I," Setsuna stumbled, stunned, "I shall certainly make every   
effort."  
  
Setsuna put down the phone without realizing it. Her entire being   
was in a state of shock. Something happen to Usagi - - the thought was   
too horrible to contemplate. Numbly she walked into the next room and   
right into the arms of Janus.  
  
"Setsuna?" he inquired, holding her, giving her strength to live   
another minute. His demeanor grew serious. "What troubles you?"  
  
"The P. . . Usagi . . . my friend," she stammered, her tongue   
suddenly thick as a board. "Something has happened to her."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I-I do not know." Suddenly Setsuna found her body squeezed to   
his.   
  
"She will be all right," Janus told her reassuringly. "She is   
very strong, that one."  
  
Setsuna took his words and his embrace like a dying person would   
take water. She drew desperately on his strength and stability,   
wondering for a moment how she ever got by without it.  
  
"You wish to go to her? Go then," and he smiled warmly at her,   
trying to reassure her. It was as if her heartache was suddenly his.   
"Do not concern yourself over me. I am fully grown now and can survive   
without your tender care - - for a little while."  
  
A smile sprang up amid Setsuna's consternation. She leaned in and   
kissed him on the chest, then turned and hurried off to the phone to   
begin trying to track her missing Princess.  
* * * *  
Mercury furiously tapped another equation into her computer. The   
senshi computer was linked into the computer system at the radiology   
lab, using them as a server network to manipulate the various systems   
needed to analyze the mercury isotope and reproduce it. To her   
consummate frustration, it was proving a difficult problem to solve.  
  
"No!" she hissed in frustration. "Why won't the proton mix remain   
stable? What am I forgetting?"  
  
Undaunted, Mercury retried her calculations, modifying them ever   
so slightly in order to conquer the problem facing her. She didn't   
glance at the clock. She knew time was short. There wasn't any purpose   
in reminding herself of that fact. It would only make her hasty and   
cause her to overlook some aspect of the problem.  
  
"How's it coming?" she heard Mamoru ask.   
  
She looked up and found him in the doorway to the lab. He was on   
the brink of collapse, far more than she was, because he loved Usagi   
even more than she did and would feel her loss even more. Yet, still he   
held on and remained brave for her. For a moment it reminded Ami of   
those days twenty years ago when she was a teenage girl and secretly   
infatuated with him. She still held a place for him in her heart. That   
was another reason why she didn't dare disappoint him.  
  
"It's not," she said, her tone remonstrating herself. "I can't   
get the proton mix to stabilize! The isotope unravels before I can use   
it!"  
  
"You want some help?" he asked. "I don't know that much about   
nuclear medicine, but I'll do what I can. I'm certainly not doing her   
any good downstairs."  
  
Mercury hesitated for a moment. "All right," she said, overcoming   
her pride. "I suppose two heads are better than one." Mamoru joined   
her by her side. "And I think you underestimate how much good your   
presence does her. You two have a bond, and the closer both of you are,   
the stronger it is."  
  
"Maybe you're right," Mamoru replied, close-lipped. "Maybe I just   
couldn't stand seeing her like that for one second more. Maybe I'm too   
much of a coward to stand there and watch her - - slip away."  
  
"I don't think any of us have that kind of courage," Mercury told   
him.   
  
Mamoru leaned over and studied her calculations. Mercury looked   
at them as well, hoping to see a mistake somewhere that would unlock   
everything when corrected.  
* * * *  
Three friends continued to nervously wait for news. The tension   
in the air was broken by the electronic peal of a cell phone. Minako   
reached into her bag.  
  
"This better not be my agent," she grumbled. "Hello? Oh, hi.   
Yeah, I'm at the hospital. Yeah, she made it, too. Sure." Minako   
handed the phone over to Makoto. "It's Sanjuro."  
  
Makoto snatched up the phone and desperately pressed it to her   
ear.  
  
"San-San?" she asked, the last vestiges of her control crumbling.   
Tears began streaming down her face. "They won't tell me anything! I   
don't know how she is! I don't know if she's alive or dead or anything!   
San-San, I feel so useless! If she dies, I don't know what I'm going to   
do!"   
  
Makoto listened as her husband seemed to find that core of   
strength Makoto had misplaced and gently massage it to the surface with   
his words.  
  
"If you say so," she whispered, temporarily mollified. "No, I'm   
staying here - - as long as it takes. No, don't even open the   
restaurant if you have to, I don't care." She paused for a moment to   
listen. "Tell them - - tell them I'm on senshi business. No, I don't   
want the kids here. Not until I know Usagi's out of danger." She   
paused again. "I'll try. I love you, San-San. Bye."  
  
Handing the phone back to Minako, Makoto noticed the looks of   
sympathy on her friends. She smiled sheepishly.   
  
"Sounds like he got you straightened out," Rei said gently.  
  
"Yeah. I don't know what I'd do without that man," Makoto   
replied.  
  
Minako's phone went off again. Scowling she opened it.  
  
"Hello?" Minako said, then showed surprise. "Setsuna? Yeah,   
we're at the hospital with her now. Uh, we don't know. Ami's inside   
with her. We're out here in the waiting room. Sure, come on down. You   
can help us wear holes in the carpet with our pacing. Uh, has there   
been any trouble at your end? Anything strange? Just wondering. I'll   
fill you in later." She closed the phone.  
  
"What were those questions about?" Rei asked. "Do you suspect   
something?"  
  
"I'm just looking for answers," Minako replied. Her worried gaze   
turned to the door to the examination rooms.  
  
Continued in Chapter 10 


	10. Matters Of Life And Death

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 10: "Matters of Life and Death"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Her condition is listed as stable, but grave," the admitting   
nurse told Rei.  
  
"What does that mean?" Rei snapped shortly. "Does it mean she's   
dying?"  
  
"It means," the nurse said, smothering her own anger and   
frustration, "the patient's condition is currently stable, but the   
possibility of her passing away is significant."  
  
"Of what?" Rei persisted.  
  
"I'm sorry. I can't give out that information. Only immediate   
family members are permitted that kind of information."  
  
Frustrated, feeling helpless, Rei turned away from the desk. She   
headed back to the group that included Makoto, Minako and Setsuna to   
relay the little information she had. As she walked, she noticed out of   
the corner of her eye Kenji and Ikuko Tsukino talking with one of the   
emergency room doctors. They had steamed in just a little while ago,   
called Rei assumed by Mamoru.   
  
"Poisoned!" she suddenly heard Kenji shout. Actually the entire   
emergency room had heard the paunchy sixty-year-old shout the word. He   
drew stares from everyone in the room - - except Rei. She just felt her   
stomach fall through the floor.  
  
"Kenji," whispered Ikuko, the fifty-eight year old matron trying   
to calm her husband.   
  
"Who would do something like that?" Kenji demanded, staring at the   
doctor in horror. "My little girl is the sweetest girl in Japan! She   
wouldn't harm a fly! What monster could do such a thing like that?"  
  
"I really don't know, sir," the doctor said. "That would be a   
matter for the police."  
  
"Well, you can be damn sure I'm calling them!" Kenji roared.   
"Nobody does this to my little girl! I will have answers and when I do,   
there will be Hell to pay!"  
  
"Kenji," Ikuko said more fervently, jerking on his arm. "Kenji!"   
When she finally had his attention, she relaxed just a bit. "Kenji, we   
have to talk. Come with me, please," and she tried to tug him toward   
one of the private rooms the ER had for patients to discuss things with   
doctors and other personnel of the hospital.  
  
"Ikuko, our little girl's dying in there!" Kenji raged, for   
nothing brought out the lion in him than a threat to his little   
princess.  
  
"I know," she said, knowing from years of intimacy just how to   
reason with him, "but there's nothing we can do for her except wait.   
Meanwhile, there's something you have to know about Usagi."  
  
Rei watched Ikuko lead Kenji into one of the rooms. She felt a   
touch on her arm. Makoto was there, flanked by Minako and Setsuna.  
  
"Did he say what I thought he said?" Minako asked. "Somebody did   
poison her?"  
  
"I guess," Rei said. "They won't tell me anything. Given what's   
happened, it makes sense."  
  
Suddenly Makoto lashed out with her foot, smashing a table of   
magazines into splinters. Rei saw the rage in her friend's eyes. It   
matched her own.  
  
"Sailor Moon?" Kenji repeated, stunned. "Our little princess?"  
  
"Apparently she's more of a princess than either of us thought,"   
Ikuko told him, holding onto his hands as she sat next to him.   
"Unfortunately that comes with risks, and I think this was one of those   
risks."  
  
"My little girl is Sailor Moon?" Kenji repeated, almost stuporous.   
"Ikuko, do you know what she means to Japan? How many times she's saved   
us all? How much she's done for everyone?"  
  
"Yes, I do," Ikuko said, feeling her husband's awe and pride.  
  
"And you always thought she wouldn't amount to anything," Kenji   
said.  
  
"Well," Ikuko replied with a wry, knowing smile, "I guess I was   
wrong about her."  
  
The gravity of the situation descended back upon them, sobering   
each one. Without any further words, they returned to their vigil out   
in the ER.  
  
Outside, in concealing bushes near the hospital, Luna paced while   
Artemis worked on his laptop. Occasionally he would glance at the black   
cat, knowing all too well what she was going through.  
  
"Why hasn't there been any word?" Luna asked no one in particular.   
She stared up at the sedate beige concrete structure as it silently   
loomed over her. "Artemis, at this very moment she could be - - oh, I   
don't even want to say it! I just couldn't bear the thought of losing   
her."  
  
"She'll be all right," Artemis offered weakly, preoccupied with   
his sensor readings.  
  
"I might be more inclined to believe that if you put a bit more   
feeling behind it," Luna said with an undertone of warning. Artemis   
sighed involuntarily. He loved Luna dearly, but when she was feeling   
distraught and put-upon, she could be as cutting and as vindictive as   
anyone he'd known.  
  
"Luna, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude," he replied,   
keeping his attention focused on the computer. "Given everything that's   
happening, that's not easy to do."  
  
"Well it seems to me you're being particularly cold-blooded about   
the entire business," Luna snapped. "Usagi may be dying in there! And   
here you putter with your infernal gadgets! Don't you care at all?"  
  
"Of course I do. Usagi's death would be beyond a tragedy. But   
we've still got a situation here, Luna. It didn't go away when Usagi   
got sick. And this situation is a potential threat to all of Tokyo,   
maybe even all of Japan or the world. That's millions of lives - -   
maybe billions! Are they any less important than Usagi? I don't think   
so - - and I don't think Usagi would think so, either."  
  
Luna flinched, stung.   
  
"Well, I congratulate you on your scientific detachment," sneered   
Luna. "I wonder how detached you'd be if it were Minako lying in   
there."  
  
"I'd like to think it wouldn't change," Artemis said hoarsely,   
looking back at his computer screen.  
  
"Really? And if it were me?"  
  
Artemis quickly looked up at her, his eyes communicating the   
devastation he felt about even thinking of a life without the little   
black cat. He just as quickly returned to looking at his screen.   
Luna's rage began to cool. She began to regret even posing the   
question, particularly since it was taking Artemis far too long to   
answer.  
  
"Duty and love aren't always compatible, Luna," he choked out. "I   
know you're worried about Usagi. I know you're frustrated about not   
being able to care for her and guard her like you always have. This is   
a tense situation and I suppose it's made you a little short."  
  
"Perhaps," Luna said quietly. "We'll say nothing more about it."   
Luna looked back at the hospital, aching for some news.  
  
"Call Minako," Artemis suggested. "Use the senshi communicators.   
I know she'll have it with her."  
  
"Do you think so?"  
  
Artemis nodded. "Yeah. Minako's scatterbrained about a lot of   
things, but not the things that are important."  
  
Luna nodded and engaged the senshi communicator. As she spoke,   
Artemis stared at her tenderly. Yes, he'd save the world, even if she   
were lost from it - - but it wouldn't really be worth saving then - - to   
him.  
* * * *  
Mamoru watched as Sailor Mercury typed in a complex set of   
commands into her senshi computer. For a moment he dwelled on the   
incongruity of the situation. He was four years older than Mercury was   
and their medical studies were similar. They each had a Doctoral in   
general medicine. Mamoru had a passing knowledge of nuclear medicine.   
If Ami had more, it was because she studied it in her off-hours.   
Knowing her, she probably did.  
  
Yet between her brain and that of her wondrous computer, Sailor   
Mercury was fashioning an isotope based anti-toxin in a fashion that   
quite frankly made Mamoru's head swim. The radiation chamber flared   
into life, bombarding the mercury sample inside. He would be hopelessly   
lost if it were up to him. Usagi would be hopelessly lost, too.  
  
Thank the gods for Sailor Mercury.  
  
She consulted the computer, but frowned at what it told her. This   
concerned Mamoru.  
  
"Problem?" he asked.   
  
"Yes," Mercury admitted, typing in a response. The reply she got   
back further disappointed her. "The isotope I'm trying to recreate   
isn't stable. It disintegrates back into component parts after a few   
seconds."  
  
Mamoru sat back as Mercury input another set of commands. He   
tried not to show his fear, because Mercury would pick up on it and she   
didn't need frantic emotions from him putting even more pressure on her.   
She was putting enough pressure on herself as it was without him   
compounding things.  
  
"Is there any other type of anti-toxin we can use?" he asked.  
  
"Perhaps something else would work," Mercury replied, her brow   
knit with thought. "I don't know what, off hand, and I don't think we   
have time to search and experiment."  
  
"Then we'll just have to conquer this problem," Mamoru told her   
firmly.  
  
Mercury nodded, seemingly reinvigorated by his confidence in her.   
She began typing rapidly. It was a small gesture on his part. After   
all, he couldn't do anything, short of keep Usagi alive with the Golden   
Crystal, and that would be a temporary solution. She was the only one   
who could cure Usagi.  
  
"Perhaps I should go to her?" Mamoru offered, as much to remove   
the pressure of his presence as to aid Usagi. "Keep her going with the   
Golden Crystal until you can stabilize that isotope."  
  
"If you think it's necessary," Mercury shrugged. He seemed to   
sense she wanted him there as a fallback should she fail, but was being   
polite again. No matter how old, Ami would always be Ami. "You're the   
one with the strongest telepathic link with her."  
  
"Why don't I check," he said.  
  
"Usako," he thought, feeling along the link they shared. He could   
feel her distress, sense the pain she was enduring. It was worse than   
he anticipated. It ate him up inside that he could do nothing for her.   
"Usako? Can you hear me?"  
  
"Mamo-chan?" he heard her respond faintly. "Where are you?"  
  
"With Mercury. We're working on an anti-toxin for you. Do you   
need me to be there with you?"  
  
"If Mercury needs you, stay with her," she responded over the   
pain. "I'll be all right."  
  
"Usako, I feel the degree of pain you're in," he chided her.  
  
"I'll endure it. I'll be strong. You can count on me. I'd love   
for you to be here, but I can hold out. Mercury may need your help."  
  
"I love you for being brave, but don't be reckless. That's what   
got you into this mess."  
  
"Yes, Mamo-chan. Come if you feel you must. But I think you   
should stay if Mercury needs you. I can get along. I promise. I'm a   
big girl now. All I need to know is that you love me."  
  
"Until the end of time and beyond, Usako."  
  
He could feel her contentment just before she drifted away.   
Mamoru knew she was still alive, but it made him nervous just the same   
to feel her slip off like that. His eyes opened and Mamoru saw Mercury   
slip him a nervous glance between command entries.  
  
"You were really zoned out," Mercury said. "I was becoming   
concerned."  
  
"Sorry," Mamoru said, more fatigued than he realized. "Usako's in   
a lot of pain. It was hard to maintain the link. She said to stay   
here, though, in case you needed me."  
  
"Why am I not surprised," Mercury smiled.  
  
She hit 'enter' and the radiation chamber flared again. But   
Mamoru could see from her expression that the result was the same.  
  
"No luck, huh?" he asked.  
  
"No," she groaned in defeat. "What am I missing, Mamoru? Why   
won't this isotope stabilize?"  
* * * *  
Ikuko brought Kenji a cup of coffee and slid down next to him on   
the sofa. The waiting room was deserted save for Rei and Makoto and   
both were looking quite weary.  
  
"Thank you, dear," Kenji said, absently sipping the drink.   
  
Ikuko reached over and brushed her husband's thinning black hair   
from his forehead. His lenses were thicker, as was his midsection, but   
she could still see the light in his eyes of the man she fell in love   
with thirty-five years ago.  
  
"We have to believe she'll be all right," she told him.  
  
"It's hard to believe anything anymore," Kenji replied softly.   
"My little princess is Sailor Moon. Does Mamoru know?"  
  
"Yes," she smiled, gently amused once more by this marvelous man.   
"It's a pretty hard thing to conceal, particularly from a loved one."  
  
"I don't know," Kenji looked down. "She managed to keep it from   
me for twenty odd years." Ikuko winced inside. "How long have you   
known?"  
  
Ikuko sighed, expecting the question eventually, but not wanting   
to answer. "Almost twenty years," she admitted.  
  
"Am I that stupid?"  
  
"No," she said, her arms around him. "You just saw what you   
wanted to see. You saw your daughter - - your little princess. You   
didn't see her Sailor Moon side just like you never saw her clumsiness   
or her irresponsibility or her lack of realistic ambition. You've   
always seen Usagi with rose-colored glasses, dear. When she finally   
decided to be an artist, you didn't even look at her drawings to see if   
she was any good. You just opened your wallet and asked how much art   
school cost. You didn't have any doubts she'd pass." Ikuko looked   
down. "I've always been the realist and you've always been the   
optimist. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with you. You always   
saw the potential in everything and everyone. I was always looking for   
the bottom line. If you didn't notice Usagi was Sailor Moon, it was   
because you already saw her as so much more."  
  
He grasped her hand. She gratefully gave it to him.  
  
"What was my bottom line?" he asked. "The one that made you marry   
me."  
  
"Well," Ikuko mused, "You were cute as a button. You made me   
laugh - - it's something I didn't do a lot of as a girl. And you made   
me look at things from your perspective and see the potential in   
things." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Our daughter's a lot   
like you, Kenji. She always sees the best in things and people. She's   
always so optimistic about the future. She brightens a person's day   
just by being there."  
  
Tears began to sprout in Ikuko's eyes and she turned her face into   
her husband's shoulder. He snaked his arms around her and gave her a   
haven to burrow into.  
  
"I don't want to lose her, Kenji," she sniffed. "I don't want to   
outlive my baby."  
  
"Then we won't lose her," Kenji whispered, stroking his wife's   
graying hair. "After all - - she's Sailor Moon, remember? Don't   
underestimate her, dear."  
  
A haggard smile curled onto her mouth.   
  
"I won't," she whispered.  
  
"And we're going to tell her how proud we are of her," Kenji   
continued, "and how much it means to us that we're her parents."  
  
"And she's going to give us that big, wide smile of hers," Ikuko   
said through the tears, "and then she's going to ask us for candy."  
  
They both got a gentle laugh from that.  
* * * *  
Sailor Uranus returned to the room. She glanced over at Candes   
and found the woman still unconscious on the futon. She glanced over at   
Sailor Neptune and found her sitting on a chair, absently studying their   
captive. Uranus could tell, though, that Neptune was turning everything   
they knew about the situation over in her mind, trying to find the key   
to the puzzle.  
  
"Doing that is going to give you stress lines," Uranus said,   
trying to lighten her lover's mood by teasing her. Neptune flashed her   
a pouty scowl and Uranus knew she'd struck a nerve.   
  
That was half the fun.  
  
"Scowling will give you stress lines, too," Uranus taunted.  
  
"You're not going to enjoy sleeping alone tonight," Neptune   
warned. She understood it was all in good fun. It's just that Uranus   
didn't have to enjoy it THAT much.  
  
"Who says we're not going to be here all night," Uranus muttered.   
"You really hit her hard."  
  
"She must be particularly vulnerable to the attack," Neptune   
judged. "It was a standard 'Deep Submerge'." Neptune sighed in   
frustration. "Uranus, what do you think it all means?"  
  
"I don't know," Uranus shrugged. "Same old same old, I guess.   
Somebody out there wants what we've got and they're going to try to take   
it from us. The only questions are how, who and when?"  
  
"And whose side she's on," added Neptune.  
  
"And whose side Janus is on," Uranus tacked on. "Don't forget   
about him."  
  
"I haven't."  
  
They studied Candes a little more.  
  
"Did you call the hospital?"  
  
"Yes. Setsuna says there's no change." Knowing her lover as she   
did, Neptune looked up at Uranus to judge her mood. "We have to believe   
she'll make it."  
  
"Why?" Uranus asked.  
  
"Because a long time ago she helped me believe you were going to   
make it," Neptune admitted. "Because she's spent her whole life pulling   
rabbits out of her hat at the last moment. Because it's the last thing   
I should by all rights believe, so naturally it's the exact thing she'll   
make come to pass."  
  
Uranus nodded.  
  
"And because I know how much she means to you, Haruka," Neptune   
said, "and I want to see you believe it so you'll smile again."  
  
That drew a timid grin from the tall blonde. She glanced   
gratefully over to her life mate and that single action gave Neptune new   
life.  
  
"Of course, if she does die, we will avenge her," Uranus said.  
  
"As long as there's breath in us," Neptune replied. She turned   
back to Candes and studied the woman further. "We just have to find out   
who to avenge her death upon."  
  
Continued in Chapter 11 


	11. Judgment of the Gods

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 11: "Judgment Of The Gods"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Candes regained consciousness slowly. Before moving, she   
cautiously opened her eyes and surveyed her situation. She lay on her   
side on the floor of the place she had been in before losing   
consciousness. The beings there seemed to hold it sacred. Her arms   
were bound behind her. One of her captors, the woman with green hair,   
sat placidly on a chair several feet from her. She seemed unaware   
Candes had recovered, or so Candes thought. Without warning, though,   
the green-haired woman shifted in her chair and looked directly at her.  
  
"I'm glad you're awake again," Sailor Neptune said to her. "As I   
warned you, your fire powers are useless against me. Perhaps now we can   
get down to some serious discussions. As I said before, we don't want   
to hurt you - - if we don't have to. We only want to know what's about   
to happen. Cooperation could be beneficial to everyone."  
  
Candes glared at her.  
  
"Are we being invaded by Knorr?" Neptune asked her point blank.  
  
"I do not give aid to the followers of Ymir!" snarled Candes, "nor   
to their lackeys and dupes!"  
  
"And is Janus one of these followers of Ymir you speak of?"  
  
Candes glared venomously at Neptune. She realized the woman was   
sharp and cagey, that even when she tried to say nothing she said   
something of significance to her. So Candes hunched her shoulders and   
shut her mouth.  
  
Swiftly a pair of hands seized her by her upper arms. As if she   
were made of feathers, Candes found herself hauled to her feet. She   
stood face to face with the gigantic blonde who was companion to the   
devious green-haired sorceress.  
  
"Answer the question," Sailor Uranus rumbled menacingly.  
  
Candes response was to jut her chin out defiantly. Her reward was   
to be slammed hard against the near wall, her arms pinned painfully   
between the wall and her back. The impact rattled Candes, so much so   
that she couldn't retain her balance and tumbled to the floor.  
  
Uranus picked her up and slammed her against the wall face first.   
While Candes lay stunned against the wall, Uranus hooked a handful of   
the woman's black hair and pulled down. As the agony tore through her,   
Candes felt Uranus hook her free hand through the woman's bound arms and   
pull painfully up. It became too much to suppress and Candes cried out   
in pain.  
  
"Answer the question and I'll stop!" hissed Uranus.  
  
"Never!" bellowed Candes, both from rage and pain.  
  
Uranus increased the pressure on her prisoner's arms. Candes   
roared in anguish, but otherwise kept silent. Then a door opened and   
the other priest of Hikawa entered.  
  
"Release her!" Akira Fukuoka demanded.  
  
"Butt out, Sensei!" spat Uranus.  
  
"This is a sacred Shinto shrine!" Fukuoka persisted. "Would you   
so dishonor it and everything it stands for?"  
  
"Sensei, I already travel the road to Hell," Uranus told him   
gruffly. "A few more sins aren't going to make much difference. Now   
we're trying to save the world here. If you've got a better way to do   
it, speak up."  
  
"I'll try," he replied grimly. The priest walked over to Uranus.   
Uranus pulled Candes from the wall, but kept a tight hold on her hair   
and arms. "Release her, please."  
  
"She's dangerous," Neptune warned.  
  
"The gods will protect me until such time as they choose not to,"   
he told her. "To be worthy of my calling, I must have faith."  
  
Uranus let her go. Candes defiantly shook out her mane of hair.  
  
"Can you please tell me what you know about the strange things   
that are happening?" the priest asked her.  
  
"Look to your false gods!" snarled Candes.  
  
Her hands burst into flame, incinerating the ropes around her   
wrists. Candes took one step toward the door as Fukuoka-sensei fell   
back in surprise. It was her last.  
  
"World Shaking!" roared Uranus.  
  
The ball of geo-force exploded into Candes, driving the woman   
headlong into the far wall. She struck a shelf of icons and seemed to   
hover on the wall for a few moments. Then she fell away to the floor,   
revealing the bloody shelf bracket she had impaled herself upon.  
  
The priest was the first to her side. Neptune arrived moments   
later and began trying to stop the bleeding with her skirt. The ragged   
coughing from Candes indicated she might not have much time, but Neptune   
continued, aided by Fukuoka-sensei.  
  
"You finally have your wish," Candes whispered weakly.  
  
"It was never our wish," Neptune replied with just a trace of   
annoyance as she tried to stop the bleeding. She tossed Uranus her cell   
phone. "Call for some medics, please. If you hadn't tried to run, none   
of this would have happened. If you'd just been straight with us from   
the start, you wouldn't be bleeding right now."  
  
"I do not fear death," Candes gasped out. "And soon you will be   
joining me."  
  
"How? What's going to happen? What is this 'Ragnarok'?"  
  
Candes smiled in phyrric victory. "The hole in the sky," she   
began haltingly, "is a portal. When sufficiently opened, the sons of   
Ymir will come to your world and pass judgment."  
  
"Yes, we know about the portal," Neptune prodded. "These 'sons of   
Ymir' you speak about - - are they some cult in the future?"  
  
"The past," wheezed Candes. "The past, fool. This is their   
future. Do you know nothing of your own history?"  
  
"T-The past?" Neptune asked, utterly puzzled. "B-But Sailor   
Mercury said . . .!"  
  
"Long ago," Candes said as she slipped further, "before your race   
existed, there was another. The snakes who walked."  
  
"Snakes who walked?" asked Uranus.  
  
"The dinosaurs?" Neptune concluded with amazement.  
  
"They were proud and strong," panted Candes. "They ruled this   
world. But they reached a point, as all must, when they must prove   
themselves worthy to continue. The judgment came down." Candes   
swallowed. "To our everlasting chagrin, the sons of Ymir defeated us   
and won the right to pass judgment. The portal opened and they poured   
out from Knorr, birth mother of us all."  
  
"They who? Who are these sons of Ymir?"  
  
"The Frost Giants!" growled Candes, though it clearly hurt her.   
"Mortal enemy of the children of Surt, the children of fire!" She   
wheezed and for a moment Neptune thought she would die. "The Frost   
Giants walked the world of Midgard. Ice and snow followed them in their   
wake. The sun went dark. The stars vanished. The world was cast in a   
block of ice."  
  
Candes shuddered out a sickly breath.  
  
"And the Snakes who walked were no more."  
  
"The ancient myth of Ragnarok," whispered Akira. "I learned about   
such things in my college days."  
  
"What she's describing is the Ice Age!" gasped Neptune. "The   
death of the dinosaurs and the extension of the glaciers down into the   
temperate zones of the world!"  
  
"You finally see," Candes grinned maliciously. "The Snakes who   
walked perished because they were unworthy. And the accursed Frost   
Giants walked this world for thousands of your years. And the children   
of Surt plotted our revenge. And then came the unexpected: a new   
challenger for dominance on this planet. The first humans walked   
upright." Candes smiled weakly. "Oh, how the sons of Ymir erupted in   
fear as their grip on this world became threatened. They had been   
careless and not covered the entire globe, and a new race rose up to   
challenge their occupation of Midgard. They would have killed them as   
they rose from the mud, but it was not allowed. The humans had to be   
allowed their chance to grow and dominate before they could be   
challenged. So the sons of Ymir plotted a plot to use their magic to   
open a weak spot in time and jump through to the future, to circumvent   
the old ways and challenge these upstarts for the right to this world."  
  
"That's the spot over the lake in Juuban Park, right?" Uranus   
asked.  
  
"But so preoccupied were they with this new enemy that they forgot   
about their old one," whispered Candes. "And as their great Frost   
Giants moved through the portal to this world, the children of Surt   
struck!" A coughing fit interrupted her story. "It was my mission to   
come to this time and stop their advance soldier - - before he could   
open the portal enough. Then the Frost Giants would be trapped between   
times, forever in limbo, and we would triumph and pass judgment on the   
humans in this time."  
  
With her last strength, Candes turned and looked directly at   
Neptune.  
  
"Your choice was simple: trial by fire or trial by ice," Candes   
gasped out. "By aligning with the dog Janus, you have chosen ice."  
  
And Candes breathed her last. Even as medics entered the room,   
Neptune noticed the woman's body begin to smolder.  
  
"Get back everybody!" she shouted, moments before the body of   
Candes burst into flames. The inferno lasted only moments and consumed   
every inch of her, leaving only a fine white ash.  
  
Uranus and Neptune stood up, even as Akira and the medics stared   
at what they just witnessed. Uranus looked to Neptune for her cue.  
  
"We have to get to Janus," Neptune said. "There still may be a   
chance to head this off!"  
* * * *  
Mercury slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. It drew a   
concerned look from Mamoru.  
  
"It isn't right!" she fumed. "Why can't I duplicate the integrity   
of the isotope? Why!"  
  
"Calm down, Mercury," Mamoru told her. "She's still alive.   
There's still hope. Remember, as long as she's alive, there's hope.   
We've all learned that too many times."  
  
"I apologize for my outburst," Mercury said, chagrined that she'd   
lost her temper and in front of Mamoru of all people.  
  
"Maybe I should see if I can round up some caramels," Mamoru   
smiled slyly. Mercury gasped in shock.  
  
"You know about that?" she gasped.  
  
"Everybody in the office knows," he smiled. "You just think we   
don't notice you sneaking a caramel between patients. Naomi even knows   
where your stash is."  
  
"Well now I'm sufficiently embarrassed," Mercury told him. She   
couldn't keep the smile from creeping onto her face. She returned to   
the problem, but it was still unchanged. There was nothing to suggest   
how the integrity of the mercury isotope could be maintained. It dimmed   
the smile and returned her to her agonizing. How did they do it?  
  
"You'll find it," she heard Usagi say. Mercury looked up and saw   
a wraithlike image of Usagi before her. Usagi was smiling, calm and   
charitable as always, almost serene. "I have faith in you, Ami. You're   
just trying too hard. Take it slow. I promise I won't die on you."   
And then she faded from view.  
  
"M-Mamoru!" Mercury gasped. Mamoru looked at her. "Did you see   
that?"  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Usagi was just here! It was like a spirit form!" Mamoru looked   
at her blankly. "You must have at least heard her! She was here!"  
  
"I didn't hear anything," he said. Then he paused and seemed to   
look inside of himself. "But I do feel her presence. Maybe she did   
talk to you. When it comes to her, I stopped asking how a long time   
ago. What did she say?"  
  
"She said she had faith in me," Mercury said, dejectedly. "That   
I was trying too hard and I should take it slow."  
  
"Sounds like her," Mamoru grinned.   
  
"Slow," frowned Mercury. "Cold." Then Mercury's face exploded   
with inspiration. "Extreme cold! Mamoru, extreme cold would slow down   
the molecular rotation. It might make the molecular core stable enough   
to use in the anti-toxin! Oh, Usagi! And you always think of yourself   
as stupid!"   
  
Furiously Mercury began typing on her computer keyboard. As the   
complex equation began to form, Mercury grew more and more excited.   
Triumphantly she hit 'enter' and the radiology lab's equipment went into   
action.  
  
"I think it's going to work, Mamoru!" Mercury cried. Then she   
sobered. "I just hope we're in time."  
  
Mamoru glanced at the clock.   
  
In the interval, Usagi had been transferred to intensive care.   
Rei, Makoto and Minako were now in that floor's waiting room. The wait   
had done nothing for their spirits.  
  
Minako walked back to her waiting friends from the nurse's   
station. She was trying to keep her spirits optimistic, for everyone   
else's sake. They didn't need to see her fall apart - - Makoto and Rei   
were doing a good enough job of that. They needed her to be strong and   
stable.  
  
"Strange descriptions for you, Minako Aino," Minako thought. But   
strong and stable she'd be, even though she secretly wanted to dissolve   
into tears right now. The greatest friend and possibly the greatest   
person she'd ever known was dying and there was nothing she could do.   
She could make stadiums full of people hang on her every word, but she   
couldn't change the course of one woman's life.  
  
"Um," came the timid voice off to her right. Minako stopped and   
looked and saw a girl of fifteen. She seemed frightened and   
intimidated, but she also had stars in her eyes - - the same stars   
Minako recalled seeing in her eyes at that age. "Pardon me for   
disturbing you," she bowed, "but are you Minako Aino?"  
  
Minako wasn't wearing her disguise. The girl had her. Several   
scenarios ran through her mind, but Minako remembered Usagi and settled   
on one.  
  
"Yes, I am," Minako said gently, summoning up a fragment of a   
smile.  
  
"Oh my goodness!" gasped the girl. She reached out and touched   
Minako's forearm as if she were sacred. "I'm - - um - - you are just   
the greatest! Do you know that?"  
  
"I've heard it once or twice," Minako replied, distracted. "I   
never really put much stock in it."  
  
"Oh, you are! I've got all of your CDs! I was at your concert   
last month! You rocked! You're not sick, are you?" gasped the girl,   
as if her world were about to collapse.  
  
"No. But a very close friend of mine is."  
  
"Oh!" the girl gaped, suddenly realizing she was intruding.   
"Well, you probably don't want to listen to me ramble then. I-I'm   
sorry." She started to turn, then stopped. "I, um, I hope your friend   
gets better."  
  
She turned to go, but stopped when she felt Minako's hand on her   
arm. The girl turned back.  
  
"Thank you," Minako said, genuinely touched. The girl seemed to   
thrill.  
  
"No, Miss Aino, thank you!" Minako winked at her and moved off.   
And the girl suddenly realized that being dragged to the hospital to   
visit her less than favorite aunt suffer through her periodic ankle pain   
because of her overeating had turned out to be a good thing after all.   
For she'd been able to tell her idol, however poorly, just how much   
she'd affected her life.  
  
"Stable, but grave," Minako said as she ambled into the room.   
"Same story as before."  
  
"She's going to die," Makoto whimpered, wringing her hands.  
  
"She can't die," Rei replied nervously, the words almost a ward   
against bad fortune.  
  
"I know she can't," Makoto said, "but she's going to. It's been   
too long. How long do you think she can hold out against poison?"  
  
"Depends on the poison," Minako mumbled. "Besides, she's no   
ordinary person, remember. She's got the crystal."  
  
"The crystal can only do so much," Makoto argued. "It can't keep   
her alive forever."  
  
"Ami and Mamoru are working on it," Rei told her.  
  
"They can only do so much, too." Makoto's hands came up and   
struck her on the forehead. "I don't want to go through this again! I   
went through this with my parents! And how many times have I had to go   
through it with her - - or one of you! I wake up at night sometimes   
dreading it - - jump when the phone rings, afraid someone's going to   
tell me that she's dead, or one of you, or San-San or the kids!"  
  
Makoto's folded hands pressed to her lips and she began weeping.   
Rei and Minako scooted over to hold her and try to console her.  
  
"Hey, nobody's going anywhere," Minako whispered to her.   
"Remember, we've all got a date in the thirtieth century. I'm not going   
to miss it. Neither are you and neither is she."  
  
"You know what Setsuna always tells us," Makoto choked out.   
"About how the future's always shifting! We can't rely blindly on   
Crystal Tokyo being our absolute future! Maybe it's not! Maybe that   
future ends here!"  
  
The three hushed, sensing a presence near them. They turned and   
found Setsuna standing there, looking at them.  
  
"Makoto speaks correctly," Setsuna said with a flat, emotionless   
tone that barely masked the turmoil beneath the surface. "The future is   
constantly shifting. While you three have seen a future, you have not   
necessarily seen your future. The dream of Crystal Tokyo could very   
well end, perhaps even this night."  
  
"Thank you, Little Mary Sunshine," grumbled Minako.  
  
"That is science and it is inviolable. However, there are ways   
other than science. There is also faith. Our Princess is very devoted   
to the concept. She accepts many things on faith. Perhaps, if we are   
to follow her, there are things we must take on faith as well. Perhaps   
it is not her faith that will make the dream of Crystal Tokyo come to   
pass. Perhaps it is the strength of ours."  
  
Makoto looked down, the words helping her to cope with thoughts   
she could otherwise not cope with. Even Rei seemed to consider them.  
  
"You don't watch a lot of TV, do you?" Minako jabbed playfully.  
  
"No," smirked Setsuna, rising to the bait. "I find it quite   
immature and a waste of time."  
  
"Here," Rei said, patting a cushion nest to her, "come join the   
party. Four can worry more easily than three."  
  
The four women spent the better part of an hour waiting. They   
talked a little. They stared a lot. They gave four updates to Luna and   
Artemis surreptitiously over their senshi communicators. And they   
waited.  
  
"Hey!" Rei said suddenly. "That was Mamoru who just ran by,   
wasn't it?"  
  
"I don't know," Makoto said, lurching out of her seat as Mercury   
ran by the door, "but I know that was Mercury!"  
  
They reached the hall just as Mercury was passing through the   
doors to the Intensive Care Unit. The four raced through the doors   
before they closed and locked. A staffer started to challenge them, but   
retreated after one menacing look from Makoto. They reached the   
Intensive Care Unit and looked around in confusion until Minako spotted   
Mercury in one of the cubicles. They entered quietly to see the   
attending physician administer the anti-toxin.  
  
"Did you do it?" Makoto asked desperately. "Is she going to be   
all right?"  
  
"We have to wait for the anti-toxin to take effect," Mercury   
replied, staring intently at Usagi's vital sign readout. "I worked as   
fast as I could. I did my best. I just hope it was enough."  
  
Mercury felt Rei's hands on her shoulders from behind her. "Your   
best's usually good enough, Mercury."  
  
They waited for some sign that they were in time. Seconds ticked   
by into minutes. Tension grew. Mercury, Mamoru and the doctor studied   
the readouts with grim expressions that only made the apprehension of   
the others mount. Rei looked down at Usagi. She was so still - - so   
pale. Memories flooded back to her of a scene similar to this involving   
another woman dear to her. The priestess felt tears flooding her eyes   
and she summoned her legendary anger to push them down. No one moved,   
fearing the slightest noise would somehow shatter Usagi and finish her   
for good.  
  
Then Minako noticed Mercury's expression begin to change. Signs   
of encouragement began to show through. She nudged Makoto and directed   
her gaze. Makoto began to dare to hope. Rei noticed Mamoru's face   
begin to brighten as he sat by Usagi's side, holding her hand. She   
glanced at Minako. Minako noticed and nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"She's coming around," Mercury whispered. "Vitals are   
strengthening."  
  
"I think you did it," the attending physician said.  
  
"Is it true?" Makoto asked. "Is she going to be all right?"  
  
"Heart rate's increasing. Blood pressure's easing back to normal.   
Pulse is strengthening," recited Mercury.  
  
"Say it," prodded Minako. "You know you want to."  
  
"I think we can safely say," Mercury began, then hesitated.  
  
"Say it," Minako prodded harder.  
  
"She's going to be all right," Mamoru said. He gripped her hand   
harder.  
  
Makoto pumped her fists in victory. She felt Minako's arms wrap   
around her neck and squeeze tight, and didn't mind a bit. Rei's arms   
closed around Mercury from behind. She felt Rei's head on her shoulder   
and only at that moment allowed herself to believe the triumph. Setsuna   
bowed her head and gave thanks to any and all that listened.  
  
Delicate eyelids opened very slowly. A soft, radiant smile began   
to timidly peek out. A head turned on a pillow and looked to her one   
true love.  
  
"Mamo-chan," Usagi said softly, like the gentle breeze at dawn.   
"I was dreaming about you. Is this still my dream?"  
  
"No," Mamoru said, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing   
it. "This is real. You're back, my love."  
  
"I'm glad," she smiled. "I wouldn't want you to be lonely."  
  
Continued in Chapter 12 


	12. Loyalty And Duty

THE COMING ICE AGE,  
Chapter 12: "Loyalty And Duty"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"I knew you'd save me," Usagi whispered. Mamoru hovered over her,   
holding her hand and stroking her face tenderly. "You're always saving   
me. I'd be dead a hundred times over if you weren't there to save me,"   
and she sighed with fatigue, "and if you weren't there, I really   
wouldn't want to be saved."  
  
"Ami deserves most of the credit this time," Mamoru said, gazing   
into those deep blue eyes that once more held life in them. "She   
figured out what was poisoning you. She came up with the anti-toxin   
modifications to make it work. I helped a little, but she did most of   
the work."  
  
Usagi turned to her right. Ami stood by her bed, along with Rei   
and Makoto and Minako - - and Setsuna. She gave them all as much of a   
smile as she could muster. It must have been enough, because they all   
smiled back.  
  
"Thank you, Ami," whispered Usagi. Then she smiled wanly. "I   
told you that you'd get it. You were just trying too hard."  
  
Ami stared at her in amazement. The others, except Mamoru, looked   
at Ami in confusion. Then Ami sighed in resignation and sprouted a   
smile.  
  
"Just doing my duty," Ami said modestly, "as a doctor and a senshi   
- - and as your friend."  
  
"Now you get well," Rei encouraged her. "I want to see your lazy   
butt out of this bed as soon as possible. You get me?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Usagi grinned.  
  
"You gave us all quite a scare, kid," Minako leaned in and touched   
her hand. "If I find any gray hairs, I'm holding you responsible."  
  
"That's OK. You can borrow her bottle of peroxide," Rei jabbed.   
Usagi weakly stuck her tongue out.  
  
Makoto bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "I've never been   
really good with words, you know. I'm really glad you didn't die."  
  
"I'm glad I didn't let you down," Usagi replied warmly.  
  
"My Princess," Setsuna began, fumbling for a way to keep her   
emotions in check. "It gladdens me that you . . ."  
  
The moment she took Usagi's hand, Setsuna froze. Usagi's eyes   
seemed to go up into her head. The monitor above her showed her pulse   
and heart rate spike wildly. Makoto lunged for Setsuna as Ami and   
Mamoru dived for Usagi. Rei caught her head in her hands and grimaced,   
clearly in pain. She staggered backwards and fell to the floor, hitting   
the wall with a thud. Minako was by her side in a second.  
  
Makoto wrestled Setsuna away. Her contact with Usagi severed,   
Setsuna collapsed to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.   
Makoto tried to support her, but couldn't. Usagi's vital signs returned   
to normal and her eyes slipped closed, then opened to where they drooped   
over her eyes. With Ami and Mamoru looking on with concern, Usagi began   
to focus.  
  
"Setsuna," she managed to gasp out. "I felt something - - a   
power. It was growing," and she gasped for air, "within her."  
  
"The past," mumbled Setsuna, staring out across the room, but not   
at what the room contained. "I see it. I see it all. It's so clear."  
  
"Setsuna?" Makoto said fearfully. "Come on, don't space out on   
us!"  
  
"And the future," Setsuna continued, to nobody in particular. "It   
changes - - evolves. Like a painting in sand, swirling in the winds."   
Her gaze focused on Ami. "When you were ten and your parents divorced,   
you cried for days. Yet you also wrote a poem to your father telling   
him of your love for him. You never gave it to him, embarrassed and   
fearful that he would not like it; yet it sparked your desire to write   
poetry. You do it to this day."  
  
Ami went pale. "Nobody knows that. How did you?"  
  
She turned to Rei. "When you were nine, a boy gave you a flower.   
You criticized him for destroying life and rebuffed his offer of   
friendship - - yet you keep the flower pressed in a book in your room."  
  
Rei didn't respond, save to burn with embarrassment.  
  
"OK, this is officially creepy," whispered Makoto.  
  
"Her powers are evolving," Minako gasped. "Somehow her contact   
with Usagi must have triggered it."  
  
"Yes," Ami continued the thought. "Perhaps the crystal is trying   
to heal Usagi and Setsuna's contact with the energy triggered an   
evolution."  
  
Setsuna rose to her feet. She turned to them all and they   
swallowed involuntarily. For this woman was a little more imposing and   
a little more unearthly than the Setsuna of moments ago. And there was   
a look of world weary sadness in her eyes that suggested their friend   
had now witnessed and could recall every single act of rancor and   
barbarism humanity had mustered over the years, from intercontinental   
genocide to the smallest act of cruelty inflicted from one person to   
another. And suddenly they wanted to cry for her, for indeed she had.   
And only having witnessed every single act of love and kindness over   
history had saved her from plunging into despair and madness.  
  
"I am witness to everything that has happened," Setsuna told them   
flatly, "and everything that shall happen, and every contradiction of   
what shall happen. Truly I am now the reformation warrior, Sailor   
Pluto." She started to leave.  
  
"Wait a minute!" Minako called after her. "You've seen everything   
that's ever happened? Then you've seen who poisoned Usagi, right?"  
  
"Yes," Setsuna replied without turning or stopping her stride.  
  
"Well who did it?" demanded Makoto.  
  
Setsuna's reply was the door closing behind her.  
  
"We need to follow her!" Makoto declared, then remembered Usagi.   
She turned to the stricken woman. They all turned to her.  
  
"Go ahead," Usagi breathed weakly. "I'll be all right. I've got   
Mamo-chan to protect me. Do what you have to do." She took in an   
unsteady breath. "Only, please don't let your judgment be clouded by   
bitterness and hatred. I wouldn't want you to dishonor yourselves on my   
account." She sucked in air again. "And please be considerate of   
Setsuna. I'm sensing a great deal of pain in her right now."   
  
Usagi's strength seemed to wash out of her and she closed her eyes   
to rest. Makoto and Minako bolted for the door. They piled out into   
the hall, Rei and Ami on their heels. However, Setsuna was gone and a   
quick search of the floor didn't find her.  
  
Racing down to the lobby, the quartet still found no sign of   
Setsuna. They regrouped by the front door.  
  
"So is one of her new powers the ability to disappear?" Makoto   
grumbled.   
  
"I don't know where to look first!" Minako said. "We could make a   
guess, but if we guess wrong, we won't have time for a second shot at   
it!"  
  
"Damn outers!" Makoto fumed. "They just won't work with anybody!"  
  
"I'm assuming you're all fearing what I'm fearing?" Ami asked.   
"That Setsuna is going to kill our perpetrator before we can get   
information from him or her about what their plans were?"  
  
"Actually," Rei grimaced, "I'm worried about what I felt from her.   
Setsuna was hurting - - a lot - - and I don't think it's just from what   
she saw. It might be a little more personal."  
  
"Like maybe she saw Janus poison Usagi?" Minako gulped.  
  
"THAT RAT BASTARD!" bellowed Makoto.  
  
"At least it gives us a place to start looking," Ami said. "Come   
on."  
  
The girls burst out the door and were stopped by Luna and Artemis,   
waiting by the front of the hospital.  
  
"Girls!" Luna gasped. "How is she?"  
  
"Out of danger," Ami replied. "Luna, we think Setsuna's gone   
after Janus. It's entirely possible Janus is behind all of this."  
  
"That's not important now," Artemis replied. He felt his collar   
vibrating. "Come on! We need to find some concealment! Into the   
entrance of that parking garage!"  
  
They followed him into the garage. "What's up, Artemis?" Minako   
asked.   
  
In response, Artemis executed a double back flip. His laptop   
computer appeared. Artemis opened it and looked over the latest   
readout.  
  
"It's worse than I feared!" he gasped.  
* * * *  
Setsuna stood in the garden, the garden that for so short a time   
had been their garden. It was the garden he'd crashed into the first   
moment she'd met him. It was the garden he'd commented on as the summer   
air wafted the scents of the flowers through the open window and into   
the bedroom where he recuperated. It was the garden where he'd grasped   
her, pressed her to his wonderfully male frame and whisked her into the   
heavens both physically and spiritually. It was now inexorably linked   
to him in her mind, so much so that her mere presence in the garden   
brought back reminders of him. It was as if every leaf and petal and   
stem was coated with his essence and would be forever a remnant of him.  
  
Setsuna turned around, suddenly aware she was not alone. Janus   
stood thirteen feet from her, his wings at rest, clothed in nothing save   
his loincloth and his sculpted flesh and his unforgettable good looks.   
But Setsuna couldn't look at him in the same manner she had before,   
couldn't see him as the man she once thought she would gratefully spend   
an eternity in bliss with. All that had changed and her heart mourned   
the loss.  
  
He looked at her, saying nothing, for he knew she knew. She   
looked at him, saying nothing, for she knew he knew she knew. There was   
no more need for pretense.  
  
"Pluto Planet Power Make Up," she said, her voice low as if she   
feared to wake the dead.   
  
Before his dispirited eyes, Setsuna transformed into Sailor Pluto.   
He made no move to stop her. He only looked on with a heavy heart.   
Pluto held her staff at the ready but not in a menacing way and engaged   
eyes with him.  
  
"Why did you do it?" she asked, unable to fully expunge the hurt   
and betrayal from her voice.  
  
"I am a loyal soldier in the service of my king. I have never   
denied this, nor made pretense to be anything else," Janus replied   
without insult or reproach. "My king has a goal. Sailor Moon was an   
obstacle to that goal. It was my duty as a soldier to remove the   
obstacle."  
  
"So you ingratiate yourself to her through me."  
  
"That is how it turned out."  
  
"Was it your plan to use me from the start?"  
  
"I had no plan, other than to act as advance scout for my king and   
his intentions. I did not lie when I told you I was attacked by Surts.   
I was set upon by a party of them as I engaged the talisman to come   
here. I fought to fulfill my mission, inflicting three wounds for every   
one I took. I barely made it through the dimensional gateway and the   
stress of travel combined with the wounds I suffered caused me to crash   
in this garden."  
  
Pluto stared at him, unmoved.  
  
"Your act of kindness granted me great fortune. It allowed me to   
meet your friend, for upon meeting her I instantly recognized that only   
she possessed the power to stop us. Without that stroke of fortune, the   
judgment might have been delayed or met with failure from a premature   
launch."  
  
"Am I to be grateful?" scowled Pluto.  
  
"No. It is I who should be grateful for my even greater fortune."   
Janus looked at her earnestly, his suffering unconcealed. "For I met   
you. I am a soldier and I have never known the love of a woman not of   
my family. All I have known is battle. You changed this. You gave of   
yourself and showed me a sweetness greater than the headiest nectar of   
the most important battle won. You returned to me my health and my   
strength, and as payment took my heart." He paused, looking for some   
small spark of what they once had in her eyes. "Setsuna - - I love   
you."  
  
"Given your actions," Pluto replied through a voice hoarse with   
emotion, "I find that hard to believe."  
  
"Is it so hard? You loved me, once. Perhaps you still do, below   
the hurt. If things were reversed, could you betray Sailor Moon and   
what she fought to accomplish for my sake?" Pluto looked away. "I love   
you, Setsuna. I will maintain it until my dying breath, whenever that   
may be. But I am a soldier, and soldiers are not permitted to hold any   
emotion above duty. I pray one day you will understand and forgive me."  
  
"I understand," Pluto whispered, still unable to look at him.   
"For I, too, am a soldier, and I, too, have a duty." She raised her   
staff above her head, the Garnet Orb pointed at him. "Dead Scream."  
  
A sonic blast shot out, plucking several feathers from his wings   
as Janus launched himself into the sky. He rose to thirty feet, then   
arced and swooped down upon Sailor Pluto with unanticipated speed. She   
moved to dodge, but Janus was faster and his shoulder sent her tumbling   
to the ground. As she righted herself, he was already moving to attack   
again. He neared her, whipping his wings at her, hoping to force her   
back.  
  
"Dead Scream," launched another sonic blast that caught Janus full   
force and sent him falling back.   
  
Pluto scrambled to her feet hoping to press her attack, but Janus   
was quick to recover. He twisted away in mid-air from another blast and   
swooped down again. This time his strong hands locked onto the Time   
Staff. He tried to jerk it from her grasp, but Pluto desperately held   
on. Carried by his powerful wings, Pluto was whipped off the ground and   
dangled fifteen feet in the air, hanging from the Time Staff by her two   
hands.  
  
Swinging her legs up, Pluto kicked Janus in his sore hip. Pain   
shot through the avian and he grimaced. His grip loosened enough for   
Pluto to rip the staff away from him. She twisted as she plummeted to   
the ground, impacting hard with the cold hardened earth of the garden.   
The impact rattled her and she took a second to gather herself. In that   
second, Janus attacked.  
  
Desperately Pluto swung the Time Staff like a baseball bat and   
connected, knocking Janus away. He sailed until his wings could spread   
and stop him, then twisted in mid-air and attacked again. Again Pluto   
swung the staff, but Janus evaded it. Left off-balance, Pluto was an   
easy target. Janus locked his hands on the staff, his momentum driving   
Pluto to her back and him atop her.  
  
"Is this the part of the plan where you were to execute me?" Pluto   
spat bitterly.  
  
"It is not my wish!" Janus pleaded. "We can still be together!   
The vizier has magic! You can be changed into one of my kind! Please   
accept! The judgment will proceed no matter your choice! You cannot   
stop it! But you can survive - - with me! You can elevate yourself   
from this lowly flesh and blood existence! You can ascend - - become   
something even better than you already are! Please, my Setsuna, we can   
still have our life together! We can still be one with each other!"  
  
"I have seen the future you describe," Pluto replied, her eyes wet   
and a tragic quality to her tone. "It is not one I wish to be a part   
of."  
  
Stung, Janus raised his right fist to strike the killing blow.   
For a moment, Pluto detected something in his expression - - regret?   
Shoving up on the Time Staff, her twin grip overwhelmed his solitary   
one. The staff pushed up on his chest, allowing Pluto to throw him off   
of her. She rolled up into a crouch and saw he was once more poised to   
lunge at her.  
  
"CHRONOS TYPHOON!" roared Pluto, thrusting out with the Time   
Staff.  
  
The resulting shockwave hit Janus squarely and threw him back onto   
the ground. He lay there stunned as Sailor Pluto sadly gained her feet   
and stood over him. With an aching heart, she watched as Janus began to   
age before her eyes.  
  
"What," Janus asked uncomprehendingly as his strength deserted   
him, as he felt his bones and flesh began to wither, as years piled upon   
his frame with each beat of his heart, "what did you do?"  
  
"My duty," Pluto whispered, a single tear passing down her cheek.  
  
Janus, his body weak and aged, tried to rise. He had no strength.   
Feeble with rapidly advancing years, infirm and gasping for each breath,   
Janus stared up into the heavens as if he saw the specter of death   
descending upon him. His lined, shriveled face turned to her and looked   
with sunken, yellowed eyes. Weathered lips pulled back from a toothless   
mouth and smiled warmly at her.  
  
"Duty is a harsh and demanding mistress," he gasped, dying. "I   
know her well. I cherish the love we had, my wonderful Setsuna. I   
rejoice in the warmth and comfort it now gives me. I bask in the happy   
memories. I only wish it had lasted longer."  
  
"As do I," Pluto replied, eyes cast down as Janus died. His body   
continued to whither and crumbled into dust before her.  
  
Allowing herself only a moment's grief, Sailor Pluto turned toward   
the house. She expected to find Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune   
waiting there by the back door and she was not disappointed.  
  
"We were ready to help if you needed us," Neptune offered limply.  
  
"I know," Pluto said, her voice crushed with the sadness she felt.  
  
"I hate to do this to you, given what you've just been through,"   
Uranus began.  
  
"I know," Pluto said, her demeanor haunted. "I have glimpsed this   
future as well. Even as we speak, ice giants of Knorr begin to emerge   
through the temporal portal into our world. We must once more put aside   
our personal grief and pleasure and repel the invaders, as is our   
mission."  
  
Pluto walked toward them, intent on her mission. When she got   
within reach, though, Neptune stopped her with a gentle hand on her   
forearm.  
  
"Setsuna," Neptune said, struggling to keep her emotions in check,   
"I'm so sorry for being right. I didn't want to be."  
  
"I knew you would say that," Pluto replied, the faintest hint of a   
grateful smile twitching upon her mouth.   
  
No more words were necessary. The Outer Senshi had a mission to   
perform.  
* * * *  
"I'm getting a tremendous energy surge!" Artemis reported. His   
eyes were glued to the console of his laptop. "It's over Juuban Park!   
This thing is huge!"  
  
"The temporal nexus!" gasped Ami. "Whatever it is must be coming   
through!"  
  
"I've got a smaller surge. The location's right about where   
Setsuna's house is."  
  
"That's going to have to wait, Artemis!" Luna barked. "The   
situation in Juuban Park has to take priority! Girls, you've got to get   
over there now! Assess the situation and try to contain it! With Usagi   
out of action, you four are our last line of defense!"  
  
"No prob'," smiled Minako. "We're on the case. Whatever it is,   
it's already out-gunned."  
  
"Transform!" Luna commanded. Four henshin sticks came out and in   
moments four Sailor Senshi stood in the secluded garage. They raced out   
into the light, then stopped in amazement.  
  
Towering over the edges of the treetops, they saw a fifty-meter   
tall creature made of ice and snow lumbering in the park like every   
childhood fantasy come true. Except this was no model of Tokyo and the   
giant was no actor in a Godzilla suit.  
  
"Uh, guys," Sailor Venus said, staring off at the horizon. "We're   
going to need a bigger gun."  
  
  
End of Book One  
This story will be continued in Book Two: Judgment Day 


End file.
